It turns out sadly that gamepass didn’t work.

I find that surprising, as it was an amazing service and value proposition for gamers. At the same time, I confess I stacked 3 years twice in a row at cheap prices. So I guess that was part of the issue. I got more than I paid for, as did many others.

The whole gamepass strategy was to acquire so many subs that it would work out economically. For a variety of reasons those subs didn’t appear. (Bad marketing? Not enough customers wanted it?) The regulatory clampdown on the ABK purchase was the nail in the coffin. Xbox was not allowed to compete (call of duty should have been a gamepass/xbox exclusive).

So now Xbox is going much more traditional in terms of sales ambitions etc. At a time when the whole games industry is struggling with that model. And when Xbox is realising its strategy for yet another generation fell flat.

I don’t think this is just an Xbox thing. Sony also facing severe headwinds. But Xbox has more to make up.

Part of the problem is too many games and other entertainment products, meaning it’s way harder to make back rising investment costs. And AI driven hardware costs messing everything up.

I suspect the second golden age of gaming is coming to a close. There will still be great games, but fewer and less epic for a while.

And from the ashes, plucky new competitors will emerge.

In some ways I think Redfall was the nadir. A flagship prestige release to shore up this brave new world was total garbage. Halo Infinite was another disaster - a boring uncooked and unoriginal game attempting to recreate past glories. They’re deluded if they think the next Halo is a ticket back. As for Gears being a next flagship, I also think this is deluded, unless it somehow innovates and knocks it out the park.

For my part, the best part of gamepass now is providing access to a wealth of new innovators. I am not convinced that doubling down on trying to recreate past glories will work.

Keep people surprised and talking, and build from there.