Game pass day 1 releases going away except for the most expensive tier was absolutely inevitable and it's the clearest possible sign - now that microsoft has finished their consolidation and has activision on board, it's time to stop giving big releases away and focus on profit margins.

I'd say expect a reality-setting-in period as game pass slowly morphs into a service focused on cheap first-party backlog access and fewer external games. The time of belt-tightening has arrived

Thanks in part to a regional pricing scheme that sees my monthly charges down to a little under $2/month (though for a noticeably smaller selection compared to what's on the North American PC game pass lineup).

Weirdly enough I think the only local guy I know who's got an Xbox series console says he pays the same price in pesos as dollars for ultimate, so I dunno, it could just be an introductory price that was never withdrawn.

Rate-wise it's not terrible, a bit less than Netflix and about the same as the discounted rate for PS Plus Extra, but I can barely stand to install games via the service in the first place and rarely care about day ones anyway, so out the window it goes once I've had my fill of a few things I've got backlogged.

Previously, moderator ZombiePie wrote about their lack of confidence in Xbox's Summer Showcase.

This week they affirm that on Giant Bomb that as they look at Satya Nadella's vision for the future blowing up and Phil Spencer's embarrassing victory lap.

User Blog: https://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/satya-nadellas-vision-for-the-future-is-blowing-up-1921359/

game pass sucks because it devalues games psychologically the same way streaming services have devalued what we now call 'content'. Encourages an 'add to queue' mentality where you are essentially paying to maintain a persistent backlog to be glazed over, occasionally indulged but rarely savored. The key is when you commit to purchasing a game you also commit to playing it, at least in most cases. Even then, maintaining a personal archive has its own small joys that will always beat glancing over a netflix queue.

Game pass day 1 releases going away except for the most expensive tier was absolutely inevitable and it's the clearest possible sign - now that microsoft has finished their consolidation and has activision on board, it's time to stop giving big releases away and focus on profit margins.

I'd say expect a reality-setting-in period as game pass slowly morphs into a service focused on cheap first-party backlog access and fewer external games. The time of belt-tightening has arrived

Thanks in part to a regional pricing scheme that sees my monthly charges down to a little under $2/month (though for a noticeably smaller selection compared to what's on the North American PC game pass lineup).

Weirdly enough I think the only local guy I know who's got an Xbox series console says he pays the same price in pesos as dollars for ultimate, so I dunno, it could just be an introductory price that was never withdrawn.