Just recently, the head of Xbox Phil Spencer responded optimistically in interviews to the alleged rumors of a PlayStation Game Pass being in development over at the headquarters of Sony. Considering the fact that the Xbox Game Pass has been out for more than 4 years and has more than 15 million users. It is possible that such optimism comes as a result of Xbox leading its competitors in the services that it is providing.
The Xbox Game Pass has certainly been a profitable endeavor for Microsoft in recent years, with revenue growth for its home console that came to be as a result of said subscription service and first-party titles. It has always allegedly been the brainchild of the then-up-and-coming divisional executive, Phil Spencer, in an attempt to place the Xbox in a better position by the time that the next mainline consoles were to release from both Microsoft and Sony.
So when the news came to be that plans were underway at Sony for a subscription service of their own, It was perhaps no surprise that Phil Spencer responded the way that he did. During the interview, the Head of Xbox stated that the concept of a PlayStation Game Pass was an answer that was an “inevitability”. Phil states in his interview that the idea that PlayStation is following suit with the models concocted by Xbox years after serves not as a form of “validation” but a confirmation of the benefits of them being first to come up with the idea, establishing the “advantages” that they have in the market today.
Again, such a statement is backable were the investors or interested consumers to take a look at the fourth quarterly fiscal of Microsoft last year in 2021. Where the gaming division saw an increase in revenue of 357 million dollars. Though the revenue was mainly made as a result of hardware sales, the losses taken on the side of software were offset and kept at a minimum as a result of the gaming subscription service offered by Xbox and the games under its development by its various subsidiary studios.
Though it’s fair to assume that Spencer’s confident in their leading position on the market as a result of being the pioneer of such a game pass mindset. He was nuanced with his statements in claiming that the advantages that they currently held can only be maintained if they were to continuously innovate, compete, and keep coming out with the “right answer” before the market’s had a chance to replicate their success. And in that sense, it is only fair to anticipate what the future might be between those two gaming conglomerates as they head into the uncertain future that is today’s gaming landscape.
The Xbox Game Pass and its computer counterpart, the PC Game Pass are available now.
