UPDATE 5PM BST: I contacted Fernando Rizo to see if I could find out more about what he shared on his podcast. In response, Rizo said: “I definitely don’t want to oversell what I know – not privy to any internal Microsoft conversations. But I had spoken to a number of devs that had Game Pass deals in various stages of negotiation who were told the deals were on hold. I don’t personally think this is the death of Game Pass or anything, probably just a new CEO wanting to get her feet under her desk and everyone aligned on strategy before the Game Pass team starts cutting cheques again.”<\/p>\n
ORIGINAL STORY 4PM BST Microsoft might have hit pause on signing any more third-party Game Pass deals. Presumably it’s doing this while restructuring Xbox, as it’s reported to be doing<\/a>, but will it open the cheque book again after?<\/p>\n The news comes from former Raw Fury sales and business development officer Fernando Rizo – now a parter at game commercial advisory company Caboodle<\/a> – talking on a podcast he co-hosts called The Business of Video Games<\/a> (episode 59). Rizo was at a trade show in Italy recently and heard that “word on the street was that loads of people who were in the frame for Game Pass deals – ie. nothing was inked yet but the deals were in advanced discussions – everybody got the rug pulled out from under them.<\/p>\n “I don’t think Game Pass is over given that the new incoming leadership have talked a lot about Game Pass,” Rizo added. “I think they’re on pause; I think they’re figuring it out – that’s my read anyway. For the time being, it seems like Game Pass deals: we just did one at Caboodle earlier in the year and I get the feeling that [we] might have been one of the last ones that did.”<\/p>\n Xbox is currently being “reset” by new boss Asha Sharma, who took over in February<\/a> from Phil Spencer<\/a> and Sarah Bond. One of her first big moves was to significantly discount Game Pass<\/a>, most notably dropping the Ultimate tier from \u00a323 a month to \u00a317 – the tradeoff being that Call of Duty would no longer be included from day one.<\/p>\n But Game Pass seems to remain a key part of the business. The Xbox Summer Showcase in June consistently reiterated the Game Pass availability of games being shown, and as Xbox pivots back to exclusivity<\/a> being important, some strong Game Pass signings could present an alluring attraction.<\/p>\n However, Xbox is also feeling the pressure to return to profitability after spending exorbitant amounts acquiring gaming studios – the biggest among them, Activision Blizzard, for an eye-melting $68.7bn<\/a>. Perhaps it’s too expensive to keep paying out for third-party Game Pass games; maybe it’s more cost effective to shrink the net and focus on access to homemade games instead.<\/p>\n