Ed Fries, Microsoft’s former vice president of gaming publishing who launched the original Xbox, recently appeared on a podcast where he talked about some of his concerns about the Xbox Game Pass. Fries said he is “afraid” that the service could lead to a future where people stop buying games, opting instead to pay only a monthly subscription fee to access everything. In his opinion, this is a scenario similar to what happened with Spotify and the move towards music playback, a result that he thinks has not been great for musicians or record companies. And he fears that a similar future will come to the gaming industry.
Yesterday, Fries appeared on the Xbox Expansion podcast in an extensive interview that covered a variety of topics, including Halo, the executive’s involvement in the launch of Xbox at Microsoft, the struggles the console faced in Japan, and the current Xbox boss Phil Spencer Towards the end of the interview, the host asked Fries if there were any changes or tweaks he would make to the current Xbox strategy. Although he did not provide specific details, he did say Game Pass as the only thing the company was doing that made him “nervous”.
“The Game Pass scares me,” Fries explained. “Because there’s something a little bit similar to Spotify that was created for the music business. And eh … when Spotify took off it destroyed the music business. I mean, it literally reduced the music business in the middle and it’s done so people don’t buy more songs. “
“So we have to be careful not to create the same system in the gaming business. I mean, those markets are more fragile than people realize,” Fries continued. “I saw how the gaming industry was destroying itself in the early ’80s. I saw how the educational software business was destroyed in the mid-’90s. So Game Pass makes me nervous. As a customer, I’m “I love Spotify as a client – I have all the songs I ever want … it’s very good as a client. But it’s not necessarily great for the industry.”
Kotaku has contacted Microsoft for comment.
Fries also said that the increase in music playback services such as Spotify had convinced Apple to stop selling songs because, in his words, “no one buys them anymore.”
However, as reported by VGC, some of the claims of the former Xbox executive are being discussed by people in the music industry. One statistic used to counter Fries’ claim that the industry was halved after the increase in streaming was that when Spotify was launched in 2011, the global record industry was generating revenue from about $ 15 billion. In 2021, a decade after Spotify helped popularize streaming music, the industry grossed $ 25.9 billion.
That said, while the industry as a whole has continued to grow, individual artists and smaller bands have reported doing very little through streaming services, as most popular ones pay only a fraction of a penny for transmission.
Keep in mind that even though Apple has made changes to iTunes and its digital stores, you can still purchase songs and albums.
Still, while some of Fries’ claims are debatable, the fact is that Game Pass has changed the industry. With more than 25 million subscribers, Game Pass has become a major focus for Xbox and its boss Phil Spencer, with the company continuing to bring great games and popular indie titles to the service each month. Fans have widely adopted Game Pass, as it allows people with less money to play more games than ever before. Sony even seems to be changing its long-running PlayStation Plus service because it looks more like Game Pass, adding more levels that offer larger libraries of new and old games, such as Microsoft’s offerings.
While Game Pass has changed the way people shop and play, not everything is good news, especially for smaller developers.
Independent studio The Game Bakers recently spoke with Waypoint about the studio’s decision not to release a new update for Furi on Xbox because it didn’t sell well on the platform. According to the developers, on Xbox it is becoming increasingly important for smaller games to be launched via Game Pass or to fall behind. And even when you post your standalone game to Game Pass, as the 2021 study with Haven did, it’s not a guarantee that it will lead to increased sales or profits.
A similar situation occurred with Square Enix’s AAA loot shooter Outriders, which has yet to make a profit a year after launching Microsoft’s subscription service.
Read more: After years of hype, the Xbox Game Pass Burnout is here
It seems reasonable to imagine that as the Xbox Game Pass continues to grow and add more games at a faster rate, it could be even harder to stand out from the crowd and succeed in the service. And while the renewal of Sony’s PS Plus is helping to attract more subscribers, it’s very likely that both these big companies and newcomers who want a share of this pie will continue to expand the reach of gaming subscription services, which is also worrying. in Fries.
At the moment, Game Pass is still quite small compared to Spotify, and most games are still released on various platforms and not exclusively as part of any subscription service, a fact that Fries acknowledged during the podcast.
“The percentage of all games on Game Pass is still small, and there are a lot of games,” Fries admitted. . ”
“So, you know, it’s something that worries me about the future. But it’s something that worries me.”