Xbox Game Pass-Style Subscriptions 'Bad for the Business' and Turn Developers Into 'Wage Slaves,' Former PlayStation Boss Shawn Layden Says

Shawn Layden, erstwhile president of PlayStation Worldwide Studios, has blasted gaming subscription services specified arsenic Xbox Game Pass arsenic atrocious for the video games manufacture and developers — who, helium said, tin extremity up being turned into "wage slaves."

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Layden criticised the interaction of Xbox Game Pass becoming the "Netflix of gaming" by suggesting it had led to a caller mean wherever paying for idiosyncratic games had go little communal — astatine a clip wherever large live-services specified arsenic Roblox and Fortnite were already gobbling up attraction spans and subordinate spending.

Layden was besides captious of the interaction that launching a crippled into a subscription work had connected its developers, with titles simply becoming contented for the subscription's catalogue.

"I'm not a large protagonist of the 'Netflix of gaming' idea," Layden said. "I deliberation it is simply a danger. I mean, look what happened to music. In the fashionable mind, euphony costs nothing. Music should beryllium free. Spotify, what is that? It's 15 bucks a period oregon something, but virtually nary 1 buys euphony anymore."

While not an nonstop comparison, Layden is suggesting that the ubiquity of euphony via streaming catalogues has devalued idiosyncratic releases. But portion the euphony manufacture tin accommodate to marque up revenues from unrecorded concerts, the aforesaid cannot beryllium said for video games — thing that makes day-one crippled launches via a subscription work "bad for the business," successful his opinion.

"The occupation with gaming is each we person is launch," Layden continued. "That's it. No 1 wants to wage wealth to travel into the workplace and ticker radical code."

There has been overmuch statement precocious implicit the profitability of Xbox Game Pass, which Microsoft itself has said makes wealth adjacent erstwhile factoring successful the improvement outgo of the games that motorboat wrong it, and the mislaid income of first-party games which radical nary longer request to wage individually for. But, Layden insisted, the profitability of it each is not the existent issue.

"Is Game Pass profitable? Is Game Pass not profitable? What does that mean? That's truly not the close question to inquire anyway," helium said. "You tin bash each kinds of fiscal jiggery-pokery for immoderate benignant of firm work to marque it look profitable if you wanted to. You instrumentality capable costs retired and accidental that's disconnected the equilibrium expanse and, ohio look, it's profitable now. The existent contented for maine connected things similar Game Pass is, is it steadfast for the developer?"

It's present that Layden described developers moving to motorboat games wrong a subscription arsenic fundamentally becoming a "wage slave."

"They're not creating value, putting it successful the marketplace, hoping it explodes, and nett sharing, and overages, and each that bully stuff," Layden said. "It's just, 'You wage maine X dollars an hour, I built you a game, here, spell enactment it connected your servers.' I don't deliberation it's truly inspiring for crippled developers."

Regardless, Xbox Game Pass remains a immense nett operator for Microsoft, which said successful June that the subcription work had reached a caller yearly grounds of "nearly $5 billion" successful gross for the archetypal time, pursuing the launches of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: Remastered, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social