I dream of a better Xbox Game Pass

By Phil Bothun

Tom Warren at The Verge reported earlier this week that Microsoft is (yet again) raising the price on Xbox Game Pass and shuffling the tiers around. The latest Game Pass shakeup is a prime example of Corporate Strategy™️ getting in the way of something good.

I don't know much about Microsoft internally, nor do I have any special insight into how Microsoft/Xbox are viewing Game Pass these days, but I've worked in plenty of corporate environments where short-term success on arbitrary business goals override building something interesting, cool, or fun.

I'm speculating here, but after a probably weeks-long workshop developing customer personas based on data and interviews, Xbox leadership probably backed themselves into a strategy serving a few different segments. Each tier of the new Game Pass is either about getting the latest and greatest, experiencing the brevity of the Game Pass library, or letting anyone play anywhere.

They remixed the tiers and rearranged features to focus on amalgamated users, instead of making a good thing better. Game Pass is a good deal for many different people, but no longer the greatest deal in gaming for everyone.

If you look at the landscape of streaming services, raising prices, reducing access to content, or adding advertising seems to be the options available. However, Game Pass isn't Netflix or Peacock, it's a games service loaded with all the accoutrements of games, not film or TV. Games don't have A-list celebrities the way movies do and "casually" dipping into games is much more difficult than catching an episode of Bridgerton on your lunch break. Playing video games, from your smallest Indies to your biggest AAAs is still a niche hobby. Growing for sure, but still a niche.

Xbox Game Pass is still a good deal. Maybe not the greatest deal in gaming anymore, but the massive library, additional deals on other games, and access to other libraries like EA Play is a good deal. Unfortunately, Microsoft lacked the blockbuster first party release cadence of something like Netflix or Disney Plus: games just take way too long to make.

Game Pass could be so much more

Since the rumor mill was spinning up about a potential Call of Duty-related price hike, I've been hoping—no, dreaming—of what Game Pass could be. So, without further ado, this is my personal opinion about how Microsoft could have excited me about Game Pass version 2:

Flatten the tier structure

My first decree as Emperor of Game Pass would be to remove the tiers. It's $20 for everyone. You sign up for Game Pass. Not Game Pass Ultimate, not Game Pass Standard, not Game Pass Pro Ultra Max for PC. Just Game Pass.

Why? Because tiers are confusing and are typically shady tactics to get you to sign up for a service that is more expensive than it should be, but compared to the second tier option it seems more affordable. Tiered systems, especially for Game Pass, dilute their entire mission statement of "play anywhere," adding unnecessary asterisks like "not on day one" or "only if you have this piece of hardware."

If you need tiers, just go with Game Pass and a cheaper Game Pass Cloud Only. Easy peasy. Pack-in an Xbox branded mobile controller with an annual Cloud Only subscription.

Better in-game perks

Game Pass has this sad "perks" tab that gives you free items, skins, or content for being a Game Pass subscriber. This page is primarily filled with free-to-play game booster items or weirdly the first season of Bleach? It feels more like a business partnerships department that did some deals and didn't have anywhere to put them than anything I'd refer to as a "perk."

So how do you fix it? Free battle passes (and other stuff). Microsoft now owns multiple franchises that 1. need players to keep the game fun, and 2. are packed with battle passes. Halo, Call of Duty, Diablo, Fallout 76 and more. Let me pick one "free" battle pass per season for a game I want to go deep on. Want the weird blinged out gold skins? Players can still upgrade to the premium battle pass. Incentivize me to check out the new season of Diablo this quarter, or bring my group of friends into Season 3 of Black Ops 6 to farm XP for the new shotgun.

Put your pre-order bonus specialty skin, map, or content into Game Pass. Want to play as Banjo Kazooie in Call of Duty? Better subscribe to Game Pass. What's that, you want a Halo energy sword in Fable? Game Pass perks, baby.

Why? Because as we'll address later, people like dumb tchotchkes. I still complain to people about redeeming the Mass Effect 2 Terminus Armor on the wrong email account because that suit was the decider for where I pre-ordered that game. Those tiny things, if done right, can be lightweight perks that keep people interested.

Buddy System: bring a buddy to a multiplayer session

You know what I love doing? Playing games with my pals. You know what I hate? Coaxing my friends into playing $70 to download something for 2 hours, then jump in to find out that this particular PvE asymmetrical shooter isn't for them. I feel dumb, they feel dumb, no one has fun.

Now, as a Game Pass subscriber, I can give out a limited amount of free Buddy System sessions. Pick someone from your friends list that can either download or cloud stream a multiplayer game with me so they can try it out for 24 hours so long as I'm there. We get to have a night of fun and no one is out anything, unless we choose to stick with it as our new weekly game. This is actually a referral program I'd use.

A dumb tchotchke

No one loves a dumb knick-knack more than a gamer. Give me a special badge on my profile, access to bespoke Game Pass dynamic backgrounds, or, yes, mail me something dumb. Maybe there's some members-only Xbox Design Labs stuff you get access to, who knows.

Here's the big brain idea you're just going to have to go with me on, but what if you got a literal Game Pass in the mail. It's in the name, come on. Is that a dumb enough tchotchke for you?

I get it, all of these ideas are too much work, take too much time, and probably cost too much money upfront. Especially when you could just pull a page from every other streaming sites' playbook and bump prices for arbitrary reasons.

I'll groan and grumble about the changes for a few days (maybe even a week!) like we all did last time this happened, but ultimately this is the way of things now. Corporate Strategy is why we can't have nice things.