In the hopes of selling more consoles and that didn’t work.
Not sure if you have seen the recent news but things are not looking great there. Gamepass is not making them a lot of money at all. Even after acquiring Activision their operating margin is 3%
Big layoffs / studio closures coming in July, on top of the previous ones.
Most gamers think xbox is dead and Microsoft doesn't seem too sure either, they recently had a change in leadership but the whole division is not doing great and struggling. Game pass is not as popular as it used to be
> Their game pass business model, which is terrible for consumers once the rug pull happens, is making them a lot of money and market share
It seems more like their game pass price hike destroyed market share. Whatever revenue it yielded them now is sure to cost them in the long term because people viewed them as price gouging and moved to playstation.
I don't understand the model, tbh. It strikes me as more useful as a loss-leader to build market share at cost to the company and make money in licensing fees long-term. But as it is, the console seems doomed.
This would be incredibly foolish. The consumer value of windows has gone off a cliff, and while the Xbox hasn't been competing with the PS5, it's going to be a solid earner for decades. They just need to avoid another game pass catastrophe that destroyed trust with the consumer.
Their game pass business model, which is terrible for consumers once the rug pull happens, is making them a lot of money and market share