Game Pass will "either kill everyone else, or give up", says Dishonored and Prey dev Arkane founder

AI is simply a "bs excuse" for caller layoffs, says Raphael Colantonio

Seemingly successful effect to the latest circular of layoffs astatine Microsoft and Xbox, Arkane laminitis and WolfEye president Raphael Colantonio has taken to socials to inquire wherefore no-one is talking astir "the elephant successful the room", Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft's subscription work is "an unsustainable exemplary that has been progressively damaging the manufacture for a decade," Colantonio wrote, "subsidised by MS's 'infinite money'. I don't deliberation GP tin co-exist with different models, they’ll either termination everyone else, oregon springiness up". Cheers, IGN.

Colantonio past brought up Xbox's nationalist denial and aboriginal admittance - successful documents related to the Activision Blizzard merger - that Game Pass impacts nonstop crippled sales. He besides suggested that Microsoft's stated extremity of cutting costs to put heavy successful AI was a "bs excuse" for the layoffs.

It's worthy noting present that Microsoft laid disconnected astir 2,500 workers crossed its gaming part successful 2024, with much crossed the institution this year, anterior to the existent round. It seems improbable investments into AI person played nary portion successful numbers similar this. A caller Wired study (paywalled) implies important correlation betwixt studios adopting AI tools for circumstantial disciplines earlier laying disconnected workers that specialise successful those areas, arsenic was the lawsuit with ActiBlizz laying disconnected artists aft putting up Call Of Duty GenAI cosmetics for sale.

According to Colantonio's ain math, however, the funds sunk into Game Pass are inactive significant. "When a woody is excessively good, determination is simply a reason," helium wrote. "They are inactive not profitable aft 8 years, they are inactive successful lawsuit acquisition phase, hoping 1 time the subscription gross volition beryllium > to the investments ($100B successful acquisitions+licensing+dev costs). Do the math, they person 35m subscribers, including the $1."

As IGN note, Xbox don't study connected the financials of Game Pass successful detail, though they person shared that "Xbox contented and services grew 8% year-over-year, which was successful portion owed to maturation successful Xbox Game Pass. PC Game Pass gross accrued 45% year-over-year".

"What *might* hap erstwhile MS has won: the games volition commencement to suck and your sub volition spell up," Colantonio wrote. "Why? Because the existent astonishing woody you person is subsided by MS bleeding wealth into it with the anticipation they’ll termination the competition".

This enactment of statement echoes comments made by erstwhile Xbox exec Ed Fries connected a podcast successful 2022. "Game Pass scares maine due to the fact that there’s a somewhat analogous happening called Spotify that was created for the euphony business,” Fries said. “So we person to beryllium cautious we don’t make the aforesaid strategy successful the crippled business. These markets are much fragile than radical realise.”

Josh Herrman of The Intelligencer described Spotify's 2022 financials arsenic a "weird, loser-take-all result — which happens from clip to clip successful tech, wherever ascendant firms are allowed to bleed wealth for years successful pursuit of semipermanent assemblage domination". The euphony streaming elephantine has been long-criticised for giving artists the earthy extremity of the deal, leaving them to trust connected touring and merch income for an income.

Whether this translates straight to games is contested, however. Here's a 2025 survey for the International Journal of Research successful Marketing arguing that Game Pass and PS Plus person "limited interaction connected video crippled gross (contrary to the cannibalizing effects observed successful the music, movie and TV industry)."

"Only the gamers similar it due to the fact that the connection is excessively bully to beryllium true," said Colantonio, "but yet adjacent gamers volition hatred it erstwhile they recognize the effects connected the games.”