Former PlayStation Studios boss says Xbox Game Pass is not yet a “business model that works”

Microsoft is all-in-one Xbox Game Pass, and the service is growing steadily with a solid stream of big games and new features like cloud gaming, but not everyone is impressed. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, former PlayStation Studios boss Shawn Layden expressed doubts that the kind of big, over $ 100 million blockbusters that Sony is making will never be compatible with a service. Game-Pass style …

People don’t buy consoles because they want more steel and plastic in the living room. People buy consoles because they want to access content. If you can find a way to get the content into people’s homes without a box, then yes, indeed. Everyone has a streaming solution in one form or another. Most are limited by having a decent internet connection. And they haven’t built the business model that works for it yet.

It is very difficult to launch a $ 120 million game on a paid subscription service for $ 9.99 per month. As you noted, you’re going to need to have 500 million subscribers before you start to recoup your investment. That’s why right now you have to take a leadership position to try to develop that base. But still, if you only have 250 million consoles, you won’t reach half a billion subscribers. So how do you circle this square? No one has understood this yet.

Not sure about Layden’s math there. Even taking the costs into account, if you had 500 million subscribers, you would be making billions per month. I really don’t think you need that many subscribers to take advantage of it. That said, the last time we heard that Xbox Game Pass had around 23 million subscribers, is that enough to pay for big blockbuster productions? Probably not yet. Maybe Game Pass will make it happen, but I don’t think Sony is interested in taking a real bet on PS Now or a similar subscription service. But do you know who has a lot of followers? Netflix (around 207 million at last count), and there are hints that PlayStation might partner with them – why start your own service when you can piggyback on one that’s already successful?

PS5 owners can now get a free six-month Apple TV + subscription

So what do you think? Will the Xbox Game Pass big bet pay off? Or are guys like Layden right to be skeptical?