Talking Point: Do You Buy Less Third-Party Titles Because Of Xbox Game Pass?
Image: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Asobo Studio

The viability of Xbox Game Pass has once again been in the spotlight this week, as Microsoft continues to fight various authorities to pass its Activision Blizzard deal. While the company has seemingly admitted that Game Pass affects individual game sales (a point that seems obvious to us anyway), it isn't backing down on its commitment to the service overall.

All of this has got us thinking once again about our own purchases on Xbox. While we do still pick up various games on Xbox of course, we must admit that Game Pass does affect our decisions at times - especially for day one purchases.

EA games will always come to Game Pass Ultimate eventually so they're sometimes off the day one list, while we tend to judge a lot of other titles on a game-by-game basis. Does this developer appear on Game Pass often? How about the publisher's history with the service? How much time do we have to play this amongst the endless number of Game Pass additions? These questions often feed into our thought process when buying games on Xbox these days.

Generally speaking, we probably do buy less games in the post-Game Pass era, especially when you factor in Microsoft first-party exclusives like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. On the third-party front, things have changed less since the arrival of the service in 2017, but still, there's always that 'will it come to Game Pass' thought that crops up pre-purchase like the devil on your shoulder.

So, we want to know how much Game Pass has affected your purchasing habits on Xbox, generally speaking. Taking Microsoft first-party games out of the equation, would you say you now buy less games on Xbox?

Vote in the poll down below and let us know your thoughts on the subject.

Do You Buy Less Third-Party Games Because Of Xbox Game Pass? (1,191 votes)

  1. Definitely, I just wait to see what comes to Game Pass!37%
  2. Probably yeah, I often avoid EA games and/or other titles that could come to the service19%
  3. I think it's about the same to be honest, aside from Xbox exclusives27%
  4. I buy more now, Game Pass has made me discover more games to buy!13%
  5. Subscription services? Blasphemy, I buy all my games!5%