Xbox Open To Offering Extra Add-On Subscriptions For Game Pass
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Featured Image Credit: Microsoft, Aaron Greenburg
I'm not sure if you've realised this, but Game Pass is actually brilliant. I haven't been paid to say that, anyone who has a subscription to the service can probably attest to what I'm saying and agree that having a catalogue of over 100 games to install and play whenever you want is an absolute dream.
The recent addition of EA Play to the Ultimate level of Game Pass' service added a host of classic EA bangers and discounted purchase prices. Then of course Bethesda will be joining the service at some point in the future after Microsoft purchased Bethesda's parent company, Zenimax Media.
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In a recent interview with GAMINGbible, Xbox GM of marketing, Aaron Greenberg confirmed that the addition of EA Play and Bethesda titles isn't the end of the company's ambitions for the subscription service. When asked if they would be interested in adding extra subscription tiers in a similar vein to Amazon's upcoming streaming service 'Luna', which offers publishers the option to offer their latest releases on the service for an extra monthly subscription fee, Greenberg said:
"Well, there's a lot of different other subscriptions out there. So you're right. I mean, we fully welcome that and it's been great to see so many people kind of embracing that across the industry. We're open to it.
"EA Play was its own standalone subscription service" he continued. " Now, including that in Game Pass as a great value; I mean, we believe the best way is to continue to add more value to Game Pass. That's our primary focus.
"But that doesn't mean that we're not against offering gamers choice. If there's another subscription service they want to add on, we announced the partnership with Disney+, we're giving 30 free days away of Disney+ to members, we've done stuff with Spotify and other subscription services. So we're open to doing marketing partnerships and co-promoting those services because we know for many people, the best way to experience whether it's games or other forms of entertainment, is to get kind of the all-you-can-eat plan at the one low monthly price"
The confirmation that Xbox are open to more partnerships could be potentially great news for gamers, who might rather add on to one subscription service rather than having multiple across the board. I know I struggle enough keeping tabs on what TV shows and movies are on what streaming service... was 'Haunting of Hill House' on Prime or was that 'Truth Seekers'?
"Although, that does ask the question, with Microsoft being open to additional subscriptions or just with the general fickle nature of content deals - is EA Play a permanent addition, or will it at some point leave Game Pass Ultimate?
"So right now we have a significant partnership with EA Play" Greenberg said. "And while we're not going to say never, never, but this is not something that's just a short period of time. So this is a significant addition, and this is going to remain in the service for quite a while. So people should, just like you see, what if you compare to other subscription services like Netflix, and you know, where if it's a Netflix originals, those kind of stay on forever, if it's something that they licence what's made independently, it's sort of up to the rights of the content owners. The same applies here, but EA is invested in Game Pass, just like we're invested in helping support the EA Play catalogue. And we think, you know, ultimately, gamers are gonna be the ones that are going to win here"
So it sounds like, for now at least we shouldn't expect EA Play to leave Game Pass Ultimate any time soon - which is great to hear - but at some point in the future we could end up saying goodbye to our favourite EA titles from the service.
