Microsoft is reportedly planning a substantial revamp of Xbox Game Pass that will allow subscribers to choose the features they want in an à la carte fashion. The report comes by way of a new Fortune profile piece on Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
“Xbox is planning a major overhaul of Game Pass that would have players choose features à la carte,” Fortune wrote, “including add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer, with the system operating on a tiered structure, according to people familiar with the strategy.”
The piece dug in on Xbox’s controversial subscription gaming purchase, noting the challenges faced about the service internally: “Game Pass, a Netflix-style monthly gaming service, helped Xbox build a subscription business. But it also led to a cannibalization of sales for the company’s higher-priced first-party game titles, especially during the critical launch period. And competing internal metrics within different teams — such as subscription revenue versus store revenue — exacerbated the problem, said former employees.”
Fortune’s piece also addresses a next-gen Xbox handheld as well as the next-gen Project Helix console, suggesting that, as rumored, it won’t be cheap — unless Microsoft chooses to subsidize any of the cost.
A Game Pass revamp would be only the latest in a series of bold moves by Sharma, who has been on the job barely six months and has already cut the price of Game Pass Ultimate, signed Hideo Kojima’s next-gen Metal Gear Solid spiritual successor project Physint, started two newverticals within Xbox, and handed development of Halo to Activision, to name a few. She’s even found time to personally respond to customer support tickets and check out the latest build of The Elder Scrolls 6.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show,Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host ofNext-Gen Console Watch. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at@DMC_Ryan.
