Could GamePass come to PlayStation?
Microsoft made waves with their huge acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Microsoft announced that they had reached an agreement to acquire Activision Blizzard on Tuesday morning, sending shockwaves throughout the internet. Activision Blizzard, whom has been reeling from a myriad of workplace harassment, sexual discrimination, and employee walkouts in recent months, owns franchises such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, and notably for PlayStation fans, Crash Bandicoot & Spyro the Dragon. Crazy crazy news by all accounts that has more questions than answers at this time. The deal doesn’t technically close until fiscal year 2023, so we’re about a year and some change away from those games on GamePass being a reality, but that time will go by quickly.
There are so many layers to this news as to what this means for the future of gaming and potentially what Microsoft wants to do with the growing trend of a “metaverse” (those are Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s words, not mine, in the conference call above). That’s a part of this most gamers seem to be ignoring (and you shouldn’t be ignoring it, particularly for those extremely against NFTs in gaming, keep an eye on this), but that will be a topic for another day. No, what I want to focus on in this post is what this potentially means for GamePass and PlayStation gamers. Seems crazy to think about, but try to remove your gamer-console-war-fighter hat off for a second. Microsoft simply has more cash on hand and returns more profits than Sony, PlayStation’s parent company. That means in a war of attrition, Sony simply cannot win against Microsoft. However, I don’t think Microsoft wants to “kill” PlayStation. As far as gaming goes, it’s Nintendo, then Microsoft and Sony, and I believe Microsoft wants to keep it that way. So this move, along with last year’s acquisition of Bethesda/Zenimax, is more to prevent a player like Google or Apple from entering the space and chipping away at the market share the 3 currently own as far as home console gaming.
When put in that perspective, you really start to see the future Microsoft envisions for GamePass. Gaming is moving cloud based & streaming in the future, whether we like it or not. The cost to value proposition is simply too great now, and Microsoft is taking Netflix’s approach. After all, consistent, recurring revenue through subscriptions is simply more desirable as a business vs trying to sell individual copies of an item. I’m not ignoring the conversation or need to buy games physically, that will always be a market need (kind of like collecting blurays or vinyl), but the majority will accept this change. Convenience and low price is what got people over to music and video streaming, and gaming will be no different.
In that future, Microsoft doesn’t NEED to compete in physical consoles anymore, when Netflix has 200 million subscribers, GamePass asks “why not us”. And with the sheer size of Microsoft as a business, there’s no reason why they couldn’t practically strong arm Sony into a “accept this deal or die” arrangement. Maybe not in those terms, specifically, but the pressure is already on, and unless Sony responds by acquiring a major publisher themselves like an EA (they cannot, btw, they simply do not have the capital), they won’t really have a choice. In that world, Microsoft puts GamePass on PS, keeping that user subscription market share WHILE benefiting from physical copies sold on the PlayStation. They get to keep their cake and eat it.
We’re not here to “advocate” for either company, they’re big corporations looking to flip revenue, so gamers should generally be weary of Microsoft becoming the controlling power in all non-Nintendo games, so it’s not like I want Sony to go and try to buy up some more smaller studios, either. Not to mention, that subscription model has not exactly boded well for the actual creators of content, when you consider the low payouts to musicians on streaming services and issues in the tv/movie production industry. Employees for game developers don’t have nearly the same protections, so something to consider.
We game for fun, so ultimately I will go where the games are, but if Microsoft and Sony can find an agreement here (which is possible given that Phil Spencer is already in talks with leadership over at Sony), gamers on either side of the Xbox/PlayStation couch can benefit as well. As far quality over quantity type games go, I think the playing field has been balanced and I’d still give PlayStation an ever so slight edge over Microsoft (Nintendo is and will continue to be on top), but as far as the future goes, Microsoft is firmly in the drivers seat.
Pretty crazy to think, when not too long ago Microsoft actually considered killing Xbox. Phil Spencer has turned things around for the Xbox brand.
Overall, just something I’ll be cautiously keeping an eye on.
