‘This cutscene will start playing after the ad ends’.
According to a post on the foreign forum ResetEra, Microsoft is sending a questionnaire to some players recently in order to solicit opinions on its own game subscription service Xbox Game Pass (XGP).
A player shared a screenshot of an unsourced form he received on ResetEra. Written in Spanish, the table compares two new subscription systems envisioned by Microsoft.
For ease of calculation, the prices in the European region used in the table are used as examples below.
The first subscription system is cheaper than the existing basic membership system. In most European countries, XGP basic members need to pay a monthly fee of 9.99 euros (about 74.06 yuan), while the new subscription system only charges 2.99 euros (about 22.17 yuan), less than one-third of the normal price .
The form mentions that the cheaper service supports “online multiplayer gaming,” likely referring to Xbox Live Gold, the console’s “Gold Membership” service.
Xbox console users have to spend 6.99 euros per month to purchase the “Gold Membership” (Xbox Live Gold), or spend 12.99 euros to purchase the XGP Ultimate Membership (XGPU) to enter the multiplayer online game. If the cheap membership mentioned in this table can be implemented, it must be a major benefit for console users.
Purchasing “Gold Membership” separately is very cost-effective
However, low prices can only be exchanged for inferior service. First of all, the game library of the cheap version of XGP is relatively small, such as Microsoft’s first-party works, which must be opened to the cheap version of XGP 6 months after release. The cheap version of the service does not include the EA that comes with the basic and ultimate services
Play membership, you can’t prostitute dozens of games released by EA.
EA Play-backed games make up nearly a fifth of XGP’s game library
Secondly, the cheap version of XGP does not allow the use of devices other than PC and Xbox consoles, and cannot use streaming media and cloud game services. Again, the cheap version of XGP cannot enjoy exclusive member discounts when purchasing games and DLC.
The most important and most unbearable point for players is that the cheap version of XGP will play an advertisement before the game starts. Due to the lack of information, it is unclear what form these ads will be pushed to players.
However, in January of this year, Microsoft applied for a patent that can predict the moment when the interaction in the game is less than a certain threshold (such as the loading screen), and at this moment send the player a superimposed on the game screen. personalize” video content. The patent brief does not say it clearly, but the video pushed to the player is obviously only an advertisement.
Advertising revenue may be able to make up for the revenue gap caused by the large number of console players choosing the cheap version of XGP instead of directly buying “gold members”. Of course, there is no evidence that Microsoft is or intends to apply this patent.
The second subscription system is the family membership plan, which is currently being tested in Ireland and Colombia. Taking Ireland as an example, the monthly fee for XGP family membership is 21.99 euros (approximately RMB 163.02), which allows up to 5 people to share the benefits of the ultimate membership for less than twice the price of the ultimate membership fee. Family members not only have a complete XGP game library, but can also use streaming media and cloud game services normally.
From left to right: basic membership, ultimate membership, family membership
A user survey conducted beforehand is not necessarily indicative of what will happen next. But it goes without saying that Microsoft is actively looking at ways to expand the XGP user base.
As of January 2022, Game Pass has more than 25 million subscribers. However, in an interview with The Washington Post in October this year, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft games, said that although the PC version of Game
Pass has experienced “incredible growth,” but subscription adoption on the host side has slowed.
At the moment when manufacturers such as Sony and Ubisoft have adopted a membership grading system, Microsoft seems to be exploring similar routines, by designing different price points and stalls, to further reduce the entry threshold of the subscription system and enhance XGP’s competition among peers force. If Microsoft finally makes up its mind to introduce advertisements to the cheap version of XGP, it will inevitably lead to strong protests from some players, but it will also save a lot of money for other players.
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