Phil Spencer Suggests Nintendo & PlayStation 'Don't Want' To Support Xbox Game Pass

As a Switch owner I'd love to see it even as a Cloud gaming option. But cant see it happening, as there are a lot of those games on the eshop already.

Game Pass on the switch makes sense to me as a consumer of both platforms. But it would definitely eat away at Nintendo Indie profits. Maybe down the road but I don't see it. Back to my Xbox.

And why the hell would Sony and Nintendo want that on there platforms? I think it's obvious and goes without saying....

@Snake_V5
I tell you why.
Because if it was the full experience then some might not buy an Xbox console for playing those games and buy a PlayStation or Switch instead.
Also it would give them a massive library of games and a very good monthly price, including all Xbox studio games on day of release.

To the surprise of absolutely no one. If Phil Spencer said they're open to having Nintendo Online and PS Now on the Xbox however that would be news-worthy....

Shocked, SHOCKED, well, not that shocked..

Switch might actually be worth while if it had game pass on...but why would Nintendo want that when they can still sell there only worth while games that are 4 year old at full retail price still

Switch would have been cool with even just xCloud support simply due to the portable aspect, but then a lot of multiformat games are going Cloud based on Switch for full price purchases, so I can see why they wouldn't even want to allow that.

Once they have xCloud on Smart TVs, then there's no need to have to go through a dedicated home console like PlayStation. People could just connect any supported Bluetooth controller they own and they are good to go.

Of course they don't lol, is this news or shocking to anyone?

I wouldn't mind gamepass on my playstation. Would rather play some dualsense supported games that are on gamepass on their platform opposed to on my xbox.

@Dezzy70 I understand what you mean but there competitors, having your competition on your own platform is ridiculous.

Sony saying no isn't a surprise at all. They still struggle with the idea of cross play. Given that you can get gamepass on pretty much anything with an Internet connection now I don't see a big issue with them saying no. Xbox have made gamepass available on mobiles and pcs. They have it on browser now too and they'll be bringing it to android TV soon as well. I'm pretty sure I've seen someone use a smartwatch to play fh4 via xcloud too.

It's a shame too. The Switch could really benefit from xbox services.

Hardly surprising, they would gain nothing from having Gamepass on their systems and only Microsoft would benefit

@Snake_V5
Very good point, it means they may sell less of their own games.

@Snake_V5

I mostly agree with you, but I'll play devil's advocate. Imagine Game Pass Streaming becomes ubiquitous. It's on mobile devices, TVs, and $30 streaming devices. The barrier to using the service is negligible, and almost all gamers, including those who play on Nintendo and PlayStation, subscribe to it. Are Sony and Nintendo really gaining anything by keeping it off their devices? Will making their customers switch inputs on their TV really prevent Game Pass from eating away at their profits? Instead, they could allow Game Pass on their consoles but make PS+/Switch Online a requirement for using it.

I think we are many years away from a cloud gaming service becoming so ubiquitous, but that is how it could happen.

@PullnPray Well I know for me personally if Game Pass was on PlayStation, I wouldn't ever touch it no. I don't want my PlayStation turning into an Xbox, it's a PlayStation for a reason.

@Dezzy70

Even if Nintendo and PlayStation allowed it, I don't think Microsoft would put Game Pass downloads on their consoles. Only the xCloud version. Putting xCloud on the PlayStation might hurt Series X/S sales a bit, but putting Game Pass downloads on the console would destroy Microsoft's consoles. I don't think they are ready to do that. Also, it would complicate their development pipeline. They built a new development environment (Game Core) to make it easier to simultaneously develop games for Xbox and PC.

@Snake_V5 Do you own an Xbox? Do you subscribe to Game Pass?

Overall I’m glad it keeps good competition in focus and means we get more Xbox consoles for sure.
See in the UK, similar to USA, these are probably the only 2 countries where 3 competitive consoles sell not far off the same when all said and done.
As in the rest of Europe for example, you normally get one or two that lead.

@PullnPray I do yes, I have Xbox One X.

@Snake_V5 Yeah, so it would make no sense to play xCloud on your PlayStation when you can play the game locally on your Xbox. Sony would lose no money from you by offering Game Pass Streaming on the PlayStation.

@PullnPray They would lose reputation if that happened. I'm sure people who hate Xbox but love PlayStation would be happy about that.

@PullnPray Microsoft does not care about the Series X & S sales figure (I think they made it pretty clear) as they are focused on getting more people to subscribe to Game Pass & retain existing ones. Also, if Sony or Nintendo allows Game Pass on their platforms (which they won't), I'm confident that Microsoft will most likely allow players to download alongside stream them as the infrastructure may not be able to handle the sudden surge in traffic by opening the floodgates from other gaming platforms.

PlayStation allows EA Play on their platform, in the long term I don't think it's impossible that Xbox Game Pass will arrive at PS when Xbox only has exclusives (that will happen one day)

@PullnPray Well they actually do lose money because the less time spent on your services & ecosystem, the less money you will be spending on it too. And as soon as the players realise that they can just ditch the middle man & switch, they just lost a customer which is bad for business. That's why Sony is reluctant on releasing a web browser for the PS5 (they probably never would).

@lostfields Well Electronic Arts is a partner, not a competitor like Xbox. Don't have any expectations because its never going to happen. It just doesn't make business to Sony (& Nintendo).

@Snake_V5

Well then those haters are going to be happy because xCloud is already very accessible and will only become more so. From a console war debate standpoint, I don't see how it makes any difference whether you can play xCloud on your PlayStation, your Samsung TV, or a cheap streaming device. And of course Microsoft is about making money and not console war nonsense.

That said, I do think it would be foolish of Microsoft to bring Game Pass downloads to PlayStation. I don't think they would do that.

@shamirqushairi Of course they care about console sales. People need to let go of this all or nothing thinking. Just because it is no longer the only thing they care about doesn't mean they don't care about it at all. If they didn't care, they wouldn't have played chicken with Sony over the price reveal. They wouldn't have announced the Bethesda acquisition the night before pre-orders went live. They wouldn't have brought two consoles to the market. Hell, if they truly didn't care they wouldn't have released a console at all.

@shamirqushairi I don't think you read my hypothetical conditions very carefully.

It would make any sense to Nintendo to allow it. However, as a Switch owner, I hope they will embrace this business model in the future.

@PullnPray Okay let me rephrase it. Sales figures aren't a priority for Microsoft anymore, it's just a gateway to Game Pass. The reason they were playing chicken with Sony was because they weren't gonna lose on price like they did at launch with the One. Also, they bothered releasing the Series S was because they wanted the cost of entry to the ecosystem as affordable as possible for a home console & being a digital only one at that means that players are even more reliant on Game Pass.

If consoles sales figures were a priority, programmes like xCloud, Play Anywhere & GamePass for PC won't exist.

Why not game pass light, only the first party stuff. That way it would take no sales of other games.

There's never been a chance of PS taking on their competitors buffet streaming service, that would make zero sense. Cloud on Switch always seemed to have potential though since Nintendo does experiment with could services and their hardware can't obtain a substantial amount of major games otherwise.

I think there would have been good reason to believe it would have ended up on Switch if all it had were AAA titles. But right now Switch exists almost exclusively on milking indies with increasingly little else on their system. And they're not giving up that endless indie profit, while Game Pass keeps promoting indies more and more.

As someone that almost never bothers with indies, the Switch library tends to be pretty thin once they started milking that cow.

@shamirqushairi

I think it is a priority. It just isn't their only priority. And those things that seem to make the console optional (cloud, PC) could also be seen as things that make the console more desirable.

Sales, especially the 30% cut from 3rd party game and microtransaction sales, is still an important source of revenue for Xbox. If they put Game Pass downloads on PS5, this revenue would all but vanish. And then what happens 3 years from now, when there are 100 million PS5s out in the market, and only 15 million Series consoles, and Sony decides they don't want Game Pass on their console anymore? Xbox is screwed.

For it to make sense for Microsoft, they would need to bring the full Xbox ecosystem over to PlayStation. You use your gamertag rather than PSN account when playing a Game Pass game. If you are playing Madden via Game Pass, and you purchase in game currency, Microsoft gets the 30% cut rather than Sony. And since doing all this would destroy Microsoft's own console, Microsoft would require Sony to commit long-term to all of these conditions.

Basically, I think Game Pass on PlayStation is a long shot. But if it does ever happen, it would likely be the xCloud version.

@101Force what would they do with Nintendo Online tough? Offer a bunch of SNES & NES games on Xbox?I think Nintendo would be the ones opposed to that

microsoft is really closed company.
they communicate only for white and no listen any other country.

i wonder.. is this microsoft..
this company is not global company except windows.

@PullnPray If what you say is true, then why did Phil even bring up the idea of opening Game Pass to others to begin with? Of course they've thought about it already & if they manage to bring Game Pass to other ecosystem, they'll most likely strike a deal with Sony/Nintendo to make sure they don't make sudden U-turns. But the plan didn't pan out was not because Microsoft figured they didn't want to, it's because both Sony & Nintendo won't allow an Xbox service on their console which will eat into their profits.

@Dezzy70 Wouldnt the price of gamepass have to increase on a PS and Switch? I mean if Nintendo and/or Sony would allow GP on their platforms, they sure would like to earn money from it.

@Vepra
This could be true.
Anyway don’t see it happening
Even though Microsoft have game pass at the end of the day it’s still the same all linked in a way console sales war.
It’s all just dressed up in PR and slightly different.
Sell an Xbox console you can sell a game pass.
Sell 80 million series consoles, potentially for 80 million game pass sales.
Game pass is only at 20 million so lots of series consoles sold would help sell more game pass.
It’s just a different approach and way to play games. Buy a game out right or rent it on a subscription service.

Which is a crying shame. Switch support would be a GODSEND for Xbox's presence in Japan.

Shocked I tell you, shocked. LOL

Game Pass can make the Steam Deck a bigger succes (as I'm reading the tea leaves...)

Would it really make sense for MS to put Game Pass on Switch or PS5, anyway? I honestly don't think so because then why buy an Xbox if you can get all of its games on another console? Even if it's with stipulations, it would give less of a reason to buy an MS console, imo.

Then why was that switch on Phil Spencers shelf?

@Snake_V5 simple fact is if gamepass was on ps5 i wouldnt have bought a series X and sold the ps5 for crazy sums to coverr my series x purchase... point is i have xbox cause of gamepass...i have not bought a game made by MS in yearrs and i have bought add ons for them though... like forza horizon4 i bought the vip pass and pretty much every car pack because i didnt have to pay 60 for the game...same goes for MLB the Show i have spent about 100$ on stubs cause i didnt have to buy the game...if gamepass was on ps5 id own that and no xbox right now. but its not so i dont and probable wont for a few years till a redesign comes i hate the ps5 aesthetics

Sonly would corner the entire mature gaming market. Then they would make their own streaming service and cut into GP sales. This isn't even accounting for loss in quality due to cross platform requirements. Xbox and Microsoft gaming would be completely irrelevant in 3-5 years.

@IronMan30

You will already be able to get all their games on your mobile phone, a smart TV, or a cheap streaming device. What difference does it make if they put the cloud version of Game Pass on Nintendo and PlayStation?

@elpardo1984 but, dont we only need access to tha internet to use gamepass on the switch? I remember once upon a time accessing a web browser, thru a few screens...maybe thru the help or something...

@PullnPray I was more talking the full version, but the cloud on competing devices (which are not phones, smart TVs, or PC) still would give people less of a reason to buy an Xbox. Am I buying a PS console if I can get their games on Switch or Xbox? Let's say I do care about Sony exclusives. The answer is that I wouldn't buy a PS5 if that were the case. While the Switch is admittedly a little different because of form factor, it would still give me one less reason to buy one if I could get Nintendo games on Xbox. Most people like having as few devices as possible, so that is part of the reason I don't believe it makes sense to put GPU on rival consoles as well.

In any case, I'm sure MS and the other 2 console manufacturers would do it if they thought it made sense. Apparently, the latter 2 don't.