Talking Point: Would You Leave Xbox Game Pass If Microsoft Removed Its Exclusives?

It would certainly lose its value, would be pointless to subscribe. The whole USP of game pass is day 1 first party games. If you take that away then it has no USP.

No, because if they remove their exclusives from gamepass then I'm pretty sure they would double down on getting more AA and AAA third party games on the service to help it keep growing. And I would assume they would still put their games on the service but maybe after 12 months like EA does.

No because I'm able to do the work to redeem it through Microsoft Rewards. If I wasn't doing that I wouldn't sub right now even with the first party games being day one personally.

they would lose subscribers, but I think in the long run it's better for xbox. because they are not selling consoles or games.

I mean, I'm leaving Game Pass regardless. I think the current slate of 1st party games will add a lot of value, but I'm short on time, not cash. Having dump trucks full of games really doesn't amount to much since I only have time to play so many of them.

I mean, even without the Xbox exclusives it is probably still better value than Ubisoft+. But as a Halo/Gears enjoyer it would take some serious convincing for me to stay subscribed the whole year.

I’m a locked-in subscriber until March 2026. All paid for via the 1:1 Gold to Game Pass Ultimate conversion offer. Microsoft can do whatever they please, they already have my money!

I bought into the eco-system this gen on the understanding that first party offerings would be landing day one on Game Pass. It would still be a great service and I know this is all hypothetical, but I couldn't see myself re-subscribing if they pulled the rug from under me.

It would remove significant value from the whole package if they did this.

Would I unsubscribe? Don't know. It would depend where we are with 1st party releases and whether the rumoured price increase goes ahead among other things.

Too many unknowns or speculations for me to say one way or the other.

I don’t overly use day one exclusives so it wouldn’t really bother me however think it would be a great feature to still have accessible for the future and for fellow gamers a like

Ive already unsubscribed due to the lack of decent 1st party stuff. All those studios & very little to show for it. I may resub if starfield turns out to be ok. We shall see

@SplooshDmg Specially if you have some live-service style game that you play very regularly you probably always have a huge backlog where 10 games are added every year and only 2 are finished and removed from the backlog because you are mostly playing that one game.

I think it depends on what Microsoft class as a sale. As with Age of Empires 2 & Bethesda titles you can buy limited edition content dlc seperately for Games Pass users.

100%. Only reason I sub.

Let's put it this way, I don't pay extra for stuff on Disney Plus, I don't pay for extra channels on Prime Video.

Nope. That’s a very quick answer for me. I would cancel immediately, and I still would not buy any of those games day one, because I ain’t paying $70 for games. I would just put them on my wish list and wait for a sale patiently, I have more than a few years worth of games on my backlog to hold me over.

Its never going to happen so I am not concerned by it one way or the other. Yes, games lose sales by being on Game Pass. That is a given, but lets not forget the other side of that equation, that being 30+ million subscribers paying a monthly fee. Its not like the lost game sales is money out the window period. I expect Game Pass to get upwards of 50-60 million subscribers before it really starts to max out at the end of this generation. Thats a lot of cheddar coming in monthly.

@BrilliantBill Yup. I play Genshin Impact everyday. It's my before work morning ritual, which usually amount to about thirty minutes a day. Still, add all that up and you're looking at somewhere between 15-20 hours a month I spend playing that as well. My biggest thing is that I DO want MS 1st party games, but I also want Nintendo first party games, and occasionally one from Sony too. A sub makes me feel like I'm way too locked into one device, or maybe playing a game on the PC I'd rather have on Switch. There's just too many drawbacks to paying upfront for games I don't really need or even want.

I can't say I play that many exclusives at the moment having completed Forza and Halo.

I stay subscribed as I can earn my money back through points and there is a steady stream of games that I wouldn't have bought but now get to try out

Asking an obvious question, but which first party day 1 releases would that be? I don't feel like maybe 1-2 games per year would be the needle mover for me, but I'm out either way once my current sub runs out..

@PeteW Yeah to be honest, I sub to Game Pass much more for AA and Indie games these days than I do for AAA. Hell, I am enjoying AA and indie games more these days than I do AAA.

as long as they go on there after say a year like EA do thats fine with me.

Day one is usually rubbish time to play games anyway most game need a month till there properly patched

Yes definitely

I’ll keep subscribing as long as I can get 3 years for €180 through the XBLG to UGP conversion deal. If that’s not possible anymore and MS removes its day 1 releases I’m probably gone.

I'm fine with indies and third-party games.

Actually I despise when they remove any title. So that's no go good me on any and every level.

I suppose Microsofts main selling point for gamepass is it's exclusives getting added day one so would lose a lot of popularity otherwise.

It would be like Disney+ without the marvel/star wars films and TV series.

It would be really disappointing if they ever did this... If they want to create a lower-tier option that first-party games aren't available until 12 months after release or something, I'd be fine with that option.

They would definitely have to drop their pricing and add other content in there. I don't see how this would be viable for them, the massive negative news would definitely cripple them as let's be honest they are pushing gamepass. Xbox has been suffering as a result of them focusing on the ABK deal and on PC growth. Gamepass was a massive reason why i switched from playstation and got my series X.

Interesting talking point but i think this would kill all of their gaming division and big papa Microsoft would drop the business. So i don't see them ever doing it.

I was subscribed before First party titles were added day one. So as long as the selection is still good. I'd be okay with the removal especially if it means the games are higher quality.

I don't think removing day-one releases would change much for me. I'm half way through a deeply discounted 3 year stacked subscription to Game Pass. The real question for me is whether I would renew at full price again at all. It's a great service, but I've bought so many games on deep discount over the last 18 months, I've got a huge backlog. I probably won't renew, for a while, until I've used all the value from games I've actually bought!

I personally wouldn't subscribe at that point. I also don't think we will ever have to worry about that. We haven't seen any indication that gamepass is failing.

Everybody calls gamepass the best value in gaming but we haven't even begun to see what the true 1st party output will be. 20+ current studios plus ABK right around the corner. The sub count will only increase especially when COD makes it over and that is all MS cares about.

It would be what PS does pretty much, so I’d expect to pay around premium price

Well, consider this. Sony are all too willing to take away games after a few months from their premium offerings, contrasted with Microsoft's massive Game Pass library, which has games that have been on there for literally years.

A good example of Microsoft doing things right for the consumer was when Super Lucky's Tale was delisted, considering the only way to 'buy' it was a loyalty perk for the remake.
Microsoft's stance was to go 'Hmm, Everyone on Game Pass has New Super Lucky's Tale... OK, Everyone on Game Pass just got the loyalty perk. Absolutely free.'

I'm very torn on this topic. Part of me is considering canceling my sub for the very reason of not supporting the developers. Sure it's good for today, but I can see this being a growing issue. I have zero data to prove this, but im worried something like Hi Fi Rush will never get a sequel because it "performed poorly."

I'll admit, I'm part of the problem for not buying it, but I was subbed to GP so I didn't see the point, ya know? If I keep finding myself trending down the path of not buying games I love, I'll just take the initiative to unsubscribe. It's crazy though, since I absolutely love the service.

No, it was worth it before most of the exclusives came out. Many other are still delayed at the moment.

Not sure they could do this even if MS wanted to. Sony is destroying Xbox in sales again, meaning lots of games are being sold on PS consoles cause their subscription service stinks. Xbox is kind of locked into all or nothing with GP. It’s hard enough to get players around the world to buy the machine, this is the whole linchpin to any success thus far, so weaken the service and expecting players to buy games for Xbox is seeming like a risky risky move. I mean even myself and i love Xbox, but if huge exclusives don’t get released and released to great reviews, i may cancel my GP until something is top quality and driving hype and fun. Hopefully that will be Starfield, not sure RedFall is that type of game, but I’d like to be wrong.

I don't care if they are 'exclusives' or not - for example Minecraft or Call of Duty for example but I do expect MS First Party releases day and date on Game Pass - that is what I subbed for - the 'indies' I would never buy/play anyway and I wouldn't subscribe for 3rd Party AAA games as you'll never know what games could be coming eventually to keep me subbed.

The whole reason I subbed was because of the First Party games and the fact that MS intend to try and build up to at least 1 a quarter. If they revert to 'selling' games first, before they come to a Sub service, I'll leave as I can live without accessing the 'few' indies and/or few 3rd Party releases that GP offers that I would 'normally' wait to buy in a sale to play before I subbed to Game Pass anyway.

The 'BIG' appeal for me is the Day 1 First Party releases and Day 1 Xbox Published games - like Contraband or Kojima's project. All the rest is 'great' but not important to me. I'd rather see them remove Indies/3rd Party Publishers games and fill it with just Xbox owned/published games - inc all the 'OLD' games they own through purchasing Zenimax and ABK - although I do think the Indies/3rd Party games help the service and GP helps the devs reach more gamers too so I'd rather they didn't take them away - but I would be less likely to leave GPU if they did than if they stopped putting first party games into GP on day 1 as that was the main reason I subbed in the first place.

The thing is now it seems even with Gamepass it looks like the PS5 will still sell way more this generation and that many people who do have and Xbox use it solely for games on Gamepass and are not buying much else. It seems to have become their only revenue stream and I would guess that even sales of first party games are down significantly when at full price on launch. If that had a massive lead in system sales and people were buying more games outside of Gamepass then yes I can see it being a possibility but as of right now it's the only thing that is keeping them relevant and competitive which is not a great long term business strategy.

Personally I don't care if they have them on there or not, I originally got it to play the games I missed around the time it launched since I had nothing for the Xbox one when I got it a few months prior, but dark souls 3, Skyrim, and destiny. Now I've used it to play quite a bit of things I'd have never bought (like persona 3 since it was portable), wo long, my friend Pedro, Lego Star wars, both plague tale games, record of lodoss, atomic heart (didn't care for this one) and fallen order.

Can't forget about manearer, I had so much fun with that goofy game, I don't know why or that I even wanted a game that let you play as a shark, but there it was and I had a blast with it.

Halo
Gears
Forza
Elder Scrolls
Rare Games

This is the reason I subbed to gamepass

The uproar would be seismic!

I think it would have been smarter not to have them day 1, but keep everything they published that is older than 5 years on Gamepass. I mean everything! There are some games that still haven't been put on there.
AA and indie games that are a bit more unconventional would get day 1 releases on Gamepass. But the big titles would get lots of attention, sell like normal, and then after 5 years when everyone who would buy it has already bought it, add it to Gamepass.

But yeah, good luck doing that now. People would not be happy and would probably quit en mass if they did that now.

'Hypothetical' (your word) Polls like these do nothing but probe the waters for Microsoft. You think they don't have media staff that check sites like these? If they even see a fraction of people that said they'd stay they will consider it.

I don't currently have gamepass but this is doing more damage than you think.

I’ve played all but the exclusive at this point, so yeah. That would be a huge bummer!

The whole conversation is a non-starter. The pricing structure and sales model is based on the inclusion of first party games. The product is much more expensive than Sony's equivalent for that reason. The acquisitions of ABK And Bethesda are in service to that.

If GP stopped having first party games it would either have to drop its pricing to match the product offering to stay relevant, or step up the third party major content included, the benefits of avoiding doing exactly that are why MS is buying studios.

It's not really a talking point grounded in reality, because the entire model revolves around that design. It's like asking if Switch would still be as popular if it were just a wired home console instead of a hybrid with the same low spec visuals. So, basically, a WiiU.

@NintendoByNature " I have zero data to prove this, but im worried something like Hi Fi Rush will never get a sequel because it "performed poorly."

Quotes like this are why the rumor mongers like Grubb need to be shut down completely and ignored by the media that doesn't want to be just a tabloid. A thing was leaked as a "rumor" based on no known sources, denied by the company saying it performed on "all key metrics", the source of the rumor walked it back as "just a thing they heard", And now you're making purchasing decisions based on the assumption of truth of the rumor, and the rumor has taken life as "truth" elsewhere on the internet.

Could MS be lying about the success of the game? Maybe. Could the rumor monger be making up stuff to get attention and money? Maybe. Do we know the difference? No.

These "insiders"/bloggers/podcasters/attention-seekers are a poison.

What we do know for sure is Microsoft is battling every government in the world with a fleet of lawyers for permission to spend seventy billion dollars to feed more content into Game Pass and the internet is fretting about it not being a successful business....

@NEStalgia I don't disagree with anything you stated. That's why I put "performed pooly" into quotations since I don't fully trust that was the case.

Nonetheless, take rumors out of the equation and just look at not buying games that come to gamepass. For me personally, I feel like I'm shorting the Devs. The easy answer is to go out and buy the game anyway. In a perfect world where we're all making six figures and have no bills, sure, I'd go that route. But the realistic answer is to pick and choose where to spend money, whether it's gaming related or not. And if I already beat a game, I'm in no RUSH( get it 😉) to go out and buy it right away. If anything I'll wait for a sale or for when I want to play through it again which could take years.

I get this is a me problem, but I specifically worry that my beloved games won't get sequels if people aren't out there supporting them.

As long as they added more 3rd party games I'd likely stay. I never joined GP for exclusives so it isn't a deal breaker. They'd probably have to lower the price to continue enticing people to join though.

One has only to look at Sony's ridiculous tier system and mostly "old" exclusive titles to see how not to do a subscription service.

@NintendoByNature I get you, and I agree to a point, but I think there's a lot of assumptions with that in terms of not being able to know what the business model is and how every dev is supported by it. We have a number of indies praising that GP removed all their risk by simply paying for their whole cost up front. If they prove that they can be popular on GP, and will be welcomed back to GP for their next game based on successful player engagement with the previous one, then that means they have no risks on their next game. That's highly supportive. It's why player metrics within GP can be as important as sales, as GP seems to be forming a kind of secret society of devs. Devs that prove they can generate unique players with high engagement means those devs are bolstering recurring payments meaning MS monetarily rewards them again with their next game. So the fight to get people playing a game on GP is just as important to a devs future in that case, as the fight to get people buying copies, playing "for free".

It's hard I think to process how the model works because it rewards devs differently and relies on different types of performance metrics than traditional sales. Some devs just get a percentage based on player time, some get flat fees based on unique users, there's all sorts of payment models.

I'm sure there are some devs that walk away unhappy with how it performs on GP. The big AAAs are not going to be happy, they can generate rev on hype alone, which is why MS needs their own content, they're not going to get Rockstar to put GTAV on there day one, etc.

It's just easy to forget GP isn't "free", valuable, but not free, that $15 a month goes somewhere. Devs get their cut one way or another from that pool. And when you keep in mind the 30% cut the stores take, from normal sales, plus more for physical sales, old retail doesn't have quite as much revenue in it per sale than it might seem, either.

Only MS and the devs that are on GP can really say if they're being shorted. Some might be. Others seem to be falling over themselves to be on GP which is the opposite. If you think of a game like, say, Tinykin, it's the kind of game that vanishes on the Switch eShop. OTOH put it on GP and it gets a big marketing push like an AAA game, whatever payment model it gets, tweets about it from Phil Spencer. That doesn't happen for a game flying under the radar, and marketing like that costs more than indies can dream to afford normally.

But... of course not everyone benefits from it. Though not everyone benefits from the normal digital stores either. Hard to say who wins and loses, but I don't think, certainly, that GP automatically means devs losing money. If anything it's more of a performance based reward system because rather than garnering day 1 sales or hype, the game has to deliver the goods to keep engagement up to be rewarded to the max.

@Moby Sony's chasing a different market. Theirs is a much less premium, cheaper subscription than Game Pass, but only offers back catalogue games. They're going for the bargain bin gamer with the sub, super budget gaming for a huge library of older stuff the bargain bin gamer hasn't played before while trying to go super premium expensive for newer content, Nintendo-style.

Not saying it's better or worse, but it's definitely a different service for a different price, for a different market.

@NEStalgia Naw. Sony's PS plus premium is $2 more a month than game pass ultimate

@Moby Only if you buy Premium monthly, PS Plus Premium is $120/yr vs $180/yr for GPU, if you pay up front anyway, GPU makes you pay the monthly fee for $180/yr, so at the best value PS+P is $40 more a year.

Likewise, nobody buys Premium because it offers very little Extra doesn't, just the retro games that are aiming to extort the enthusiasts, and the cloud streaming, but it doesn't even stream current games. Plus paid demos. Premium is terrible lol but still cheaper than GPU if you buy the year.

Their "main" sub tier. Plus Extra is only $100 yearly (paid up front.) ALMOST half the price of GPU. No streaming, no new games, but larger library of older games and nearly half the price. Definitely a different market. For someone that missed last gen they may not need to buy any other games other than $100/yr. Or the price of one naughty dog re-re-makester collectors edition lol.

I think of PS+ as more the budget gamer program, while GPU is more for the enthusiasts that want to play the latest things and already played most of the old stuff. A weird reversal of the image for the consoles where XSS is budget gamers and PS5 is "premium".

I unsubbed last year after three years. The marquee exclusives weren't/aren't there and considering how cheap games are these days if you're willing to wait a bit (especially on PC, which has tons of free games too), I realized I'd rather just buy games outright than play them on GP. And I always hated feeling like I was on the clock with games leaving all the time.

I'll stop subbing when game pass starts costing me more than $75 per year.

If they got rid of the day 1 additions then the price would need to be dropped, as it'd be more like PS+ Extra then.

I don’t think I would unsubscribe from Gamepass if they removed day one first party games. The rumor of Microsoft being unhappy with Hi Fi Rush, was just that, a “rumor.” They came out and said they couldn’t be happier with the success of the game and the studio.

Microsoft stopped giving out numbers for Xbox’s and game sales awhile ago. That drives speculation on a lot of things from those outside of a company. Those who are in the public eye have said before that if you don’t give them a story, they’ll still write a story. It’s not always going to be facts. Hard to tell what Microsoft are happy with behind the scenes.

Maybe Microsoft have discussed taking away the day one first party games, but I think they know eventually their games are going to start flowing out of their studios. It’s going to boost Gamepass subscriptions and that’s been their goal. In the meantime, they’ve been putting a good amount of third party games on Gamepass and that’s been enough to keep me entertained.

@NEStalgia can't argue with that, not one bit( not that we were arguing). As long as those that should be getting rewarded, are getting rewarded, I'm all for it. I definitely see your point about smaller titles getting lost in the 40+ weekly eshop releases as opposed to being spotlighted on GP. So there's definitely a benefit for those devs for sure.

I don't know, I don't really feel like the loss of three or four games is that much of a big deal.

As for HiFi Rush, didn't Tango Gameworks / Bethesda got paid so-and-so amount of money to put it on Gamepass? Why would Bethesda complain it didn't make enough money according to the rumour? Grounded didn't get a physical release either and there's zero mention if that game made money or not. As for 1st-party titles on Gamepass, if the developers are worried of not getting enough money from Microsoft, then do physical releases first then put it on Gamepass after a period of time.

@spoonard Exactly

They can take off old exclusives IMHO. But tbh I feel like it's only doing what ppl call poorly because you know who is making things weird with not just timed exclusives but also barring talking about it entirely on the other console. That's bad for gaming I don't care who does it.

Microsoft need to do more. I have been a subscriber from day one, but I am losing interest in the games on Xbox game pass. They need to bring more and better exclusives.

I've been on Xbox for nearly a year now so pretty green to the platform with one of the selling points being Game Pass, I have to admit I found it a great way to get stuck into a whole library of Microsoft games I've never had chance to play so taking them away for me would probably see me not subscribing again.

Lol what exclusives? If it were for Forza, Minecraft, Halo or Gears, I would never subsribe.

Game Pass for me has been a god send. I recently returned to XBOX gaming about 7 months ago and I've been enjoying a lot of older games I missed out on, so currently the exclusives have been a bonus. If exclusives where taken away, I'd like to see the subscription price a little cheaper.

There are exclusives?

Not at all, Game Pass is a decent service regardless.
I didnt leave last year and there was nothing first party that interested me, and even the year before it was only FH5 that appealed.
There's a lot more to look forward to this year. I don't believe MS would remove their titles from the service for several reasons...

Family has Gamepass. I myself don't use it. Sure I played Gears 5 via Gamepass with a family member. Gears 4 physical I think a bit late I know not launch. I used it for Psychonauts 2 briefly but got stuck and just been too busy playing other games. Like maybe I may with Minecraft Legends but not sure. It looked more interesting than Dungeons though.

I have so many for PS3/360 to get through some backwards compatible some not. Family use Gamepass on occasion (they are waiting for Starfield, maybe Redfall or other titles to be ready first though but it's mostly been used for Cloud to try out games really. Other than that Disney Dreamlight valley on occassion) but I use my Xbox One VCR/One X for games I collect of third party copies I see, really that's it these days.

Like I picked up Ride 2 and Forza Motorsport 6 (the most recent first party old title I bought) recently because I finally found copies. The Xbox One/Series X otherwise have sat under the TV usually both Xbox One gen and a fair amount this gen too. Dev times are what they are for games and the types of games but other then a handful of Series compatible titles. Family bought 2 AC Valhalla and Biomutant, I bought a few 2 Demon Turf & Project Cars 3 but again to use on my Xbox One X 3 out of those (not Valhalla).

Xbox's IP variety is there but they don't all appeal to me.

Sony used to have good variety I always wanted to play from shooters, to racing being more than only GT games, action adventure, niche stuff in-between from Japan studios and have caught up on the ones I missed out on from prior gen consoles like MotorStorm, Socom, Killzone 1, old God of Wars, Loco Roco, EchoShift and more but their more particular direction put me off 2016+ PS4 and PS5 so I'm very particular on their current IPs (Dreams, Sackboy, Ratchet/GT games went directions I didn't like, the rest aren't my thing) or their old ones.

Nintendo I'm more for their niche titles than their Mario/Zeldas/Pokemons. So my Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are mostly third party machines while my Switch is still too new for me to say but I got whatever Wii U/3DS games I could first and third parties and still plan to collect for them even Tank Tank Tank and Devils Third I'm proud to own and enjoyed. XD

Got all these other console platforms to buy and play games for I just don't have time so as a collector I'm very particular in my use of the platforms that isn't the same as other people's perspectives and barely pull my Xbox One out anyway unless I'm really in the mood to like I am right now with BC titles and Ride 2/FM6 and playing music on Soundcloud while playing because the Xbox One is just useful like that.

That and I support the Indies when I can or see a copy new but if not an pre-owned it's the way it ends up whenever I hear about the games. Big games I hear about them and if I have interest I will, if I don't I don't and I will likely get them later because of the timing/pricing and how desperate I am to play them.

I have joined in when they tested games via the Cloud but that's it I don't regularly use it. I'm not going to subscribe if I already get late to games anyway and it's just another payment to deal with and that I'll barely use it just doesn't suit my lifestyle.

It's a great service Gamepass though no doubt and I see the appeal won't deny that at all.

I buy physical the games I care about or was curious about. I haven't bought a new Xbox game though in a while only past exclusives (1 because most of the new exclusives I don't really have much interest in really and 2 it's the time I got around to the past ones.

I never saw Screamride at launch for example I only found it later in bargain bins) I didn't have at the time. I'm happy with Sunset Overdrive (didn't like then came around to later and loved it and it's one of 2 open world games I actually like, but didn't sell it) and ReCore when I got them at launch. Rare Replay I think I got late too. Same with Quantum Break.

Forza Motorsport 6 & 7 (Horizon 1 I tried a while back and didn't like it, even Burnout Paradise is fine but isn't my thing I'll go for the old Burnout games when I see them on the shelves instead) I got later in their lives because I never saw them/wasn't focusing on Xbox One as much and later looking for them barely found them.

I mean I only got 6 recently (other than for collecting it to complete the series Xbox One entries along with my already owned 360 entries set leaving only Forza Motorsport 1 left, not Horizon though, the gameplay structure like GT7 makes me feel I wasted my money it's so bad the roulette/linearity in FM6, showcases are fun though) because I never saw it other than a retro game store during this time, it was always copies of 5 in your EB Gamess and others and I already owned that at launch.

If Hi-Fi Rush was physical though I'd buy it no doubt about that. If not then well not buying it digital just watching videos instead. I'm glad I picked up Dante's Inferno and Brutal Legend for cheap for backwards compatibility though even if not exclusives.

The main thing Game Pass has is day 1 exclusives. Without it PS+ is better.