Xbox’s Chris Charla, the General Manager of the company’s indie division, has dismissed concerns that the Game Pass subscription service is disruptive for the gaming industry. Despite Microsoft’s ambitions for massive growth on PC, Charla sees the service as additive rather than disruptive, as it has not fundamentally changed how gamers purchase games. Xbox has spent billions of dollars acquiring first-party studios, which Charla described as “additive in a really positive way.”
Xbox Manager Says Game Pass Isn’t Disruptive
Charla compared the impact of the Game Pass to digital distribution, which he admitted was disruptive to traditional games retail. Still, she claimed was ultimately beneficial as not every game is large enough to justify putting on a physical disc. Although indie developers have benefited from the Game Pass’s exposure, Xbox is making bets on larger AAA titles from companies like ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard rather than relying on its indie catalog.
Despite Xbox Head Phil Spencer’s claims that the Game Pass leads to increased sales, data shows that it actually depressed game sales for 12 months after its launch. Indie developers seem to accept this, as Xbox gives them money upfront to offset the risks of releasing their games. However, the data also shows that the subscription service is changing consumer habits, with Microsoft’s own data revealing that adding titles to the Game Pass would lead to the cannibalization of business-to-person sales.
With Xbox recently winding down its $1 introductory offer for the Game Pass, there is a possibility that the cost of the service might increase in the future. Although consumers may view the Game Pass as a benign service at present, the future impact of the service on the gaming industry is uncertain. Charla’s assertion that the service is additive rather than disruptive may not be entirely accurate, as the service is changing consumer behavior, even if the extent of that change is currently unknown.
