Xbox The Game Pass Early Access Debate: Are Launch Releases Truly "Day 1"?

[HereticBD]

I've never understood it. The whole "Day 1" thing was never for me. Five measly days. And the greatest irony is that I've noticed those who howl the loudest are typically avowed, hardcore single-player gamers. The guys who frantically avoid MP competition-- you know, where a headstart on learning maps and mechanics actually matters towards having a competitive advantage. What do they get out of it? Is it a race to spoil single player narratives for other gamers? To preen that one experienced the story first, LOL?

This urgency never made sense to me. Even for co-op campaigns. I only care if content is time-sensitive (ex. a DLC's raids are only playable for a set period of time, or items are only powerful during a particular period, as with MMO's). When I playa game is when I play it. I'm not wasting my time window watching; other people's nuanced experiences of a work of art is irrelevant to me. Only thing I might notice is good word of mouth or bad word of mouth if I'm on the fence about whether or not I want to play it. I'm not spoiling a book or TV show or movie or game by reading extensive criticism if I know I intend to consume it myself.

And as a consumer, patience pays no more dividends in entertainment than it does in gaming. Game prices drop drastically after just a year or two, sometimes months.

I guess I was part of the problem, as I can understand just doing it because you can. I just got that shit out of my system. When I was young and first started making good money, I spent it. I didn't give a shit. I'd buy four new games at a time, play them like they were rentals, and then just trade them in. On top of that, I bought so many "state of the art" electronics, that would be obsolete in a year, and then go out and buy the new thing. All the while, wrongly doing the math to keep myself slightly comfortable from month to month, rather than being very comfortable. It took some serious introspection and understanding of money, to make me stop.

I guess it's somewhat of an age thing. I can still do all that, but I just don't. I like watching my money grow, rather than spending it on the new hotness. When I was younger, though, you couldn't break through to me. I had to do start changing my perspective on "the math" by myself, and set personal boundaries.

 

[SaiWa]

LOL. I don't my little spat with @SaiWa deserved it's own thread, but okay.

If you hate this shit, don't support it. Unfortunately, gamers are the most ridiculous of all consumers, who whine the loudest about the shit they support.

"Micro-transactions are garbage!"

"How much money did you spend on MT's last month?"

"Well...like $20, but it's not a big deal!"

No, it is a big deal. There are literally millions out there "only" spending $20 on MT's a month. Do the math, and then wonder why MT's still exist.

Same thing with this shit. Some people are literally so mad that....they're gonna go out and buy the premium edition, to get those sweet sweet five whole days of early access. Gamers are the problem. Studios are just operating on supply and demand. Keep buying it, and they'll keep selling it.

Indeed my little spat with you didn't deserve its own thread or being broken off. The crux of the issue isn't even rooted or is solely a Gamepass only issue (as I've stated many times). It just happens that Starfield is employing this BS early access practice. And please note that after my 2nd post I had let go of this issue (my 3rd post was 3 days later), some bozos claimed it was free so I answered again and it degenerated into this BS. Note: The title of the thread is technically wrong because what we are really arguing about is Early access, not Gamepass.

What I do not appreciate is your BS "Madmick" attitude towards it. The complaint was minor and you made a big deal out of it and eventually based all this on claiming I hated Gamepass (incorrect) or that I am a Sony fanboy, which I am but bears no factor in this argument. I've never hated Gamepass and appreciate it for what it is trying to do. I am giving it a shot thanks to the Gold conversion deal but so far it just isn't for me based on my gaming habits. It doesn't mean I hate GP and furthest from the truth I've recommended it to new or returning gamers as it is the best bang for your buck if you want access to a large library of games instantly. I am not such a believer in its future but thats a different story.

I play/pay on Nintendo (Switch), Sony (PS5), MS (Gamepass Ultimate on PC) and on PC so I game on practically all major formats. Do you? If anything I have a more unbiased opinion compared to most gamers out there.

Is it that big of a deal to wall off a 5-7 day early release by packaging it with premium content? Not at all if we are talking about single player games. And Madmick is absolutely wrong - as he usually is. My post was based on the principality around the idea of even offering early access behind a paid premium content. What I do care mostly is co-op gaming because this practice was employed by Blizzard and I was directly affected when I played Diablo 4 hence why I hate this BS. Good companies don't pull off this BS. Remnant II had multiple versions of this game but all of them started on the same day 1. Why? Because it is a co-op and they understood that they didn't want to wall off teams of friends based on what they purchased. But regardless of whether it is a single or co-op game this practice should not be popularized. YOU support this BS. I don't. We can leave it at that.

 

[method115]

I know I’m in the minority here but I was thoroughly unimpressed by game pass. I’m only keeping it until I give Starfield a try.

It varies from person to person really. I at first thought it was horrible. Then I realized I only ever replay a handful of games so who cares if they go away eventually. Then a few games that I got the plat for went away and that bothered me.

So after my sub expires I'm done with it. Which is mid Octorber. Same with the playstation version as well. I've got my PC hooked up to my TV and running steam big picture mode now. My PC literally runs like a console now and the new Big Picture mode is incredible.

 

[SaiWa]

It varies from person to person really. I at first thought it was horrible. Then I realized I only ever replay a handful of games so who cares if they go away eventually. Then a few games that I got the plat for went away and that bothered me.

So after my sub expires I'm done with it. Which is mid Octorber. Same with the playstation version as well. I've got my PC hooked up to my TV and running steam big picture mode now. My PC literally runs like a console now and the new Big Picture mode is incredible.

That's the problem with me. I love replaying games I love. Hades was one such game but it left GP so now I have to re-buy it. I haven't gotten around to do it but that is my problem with GP. I don't game as much as I used to and I only target games that I am interested (usually AAA) + huge backlog of games... GP becomes quite un-used to me.

I can even see myself letting go of PS Plus because do I play most of those games I get with my PS Plus? Not really. So I have been musing about letting it expire but it's so cheap I saw no reason to not hold onto it for now. maybe one day if I completely stop gaming. who knows...

 

[KaNesDeath]

Then a few games that I got the plat for went away and that bothered me.

That's the problem with me. I love replaying games I love. Hades was one such game but it left GP so now I have to re-buy it. I haven't gotten around to do it but that is my problem with GP.

Question. When you play a game on Game Pass or the Playstation equivalent and it disappears from the service. Afterwards if you purchase the game do the settings and game progress transfer over?

 

[Valhoven]

Question. When you play a game on Game Pass or the Playstation equivalent and it disappears from the service. Afterwards if you purchase the game do the settings and game progress transfer over?

In the case of PS, only the application file is removed, not save data. Purchasing after service removal would restore application file and then pull data from save data. There's a save library management feature on PS to this end.

 

[Schoolboy Q]

Question. When you play a game on Game Pass or the Playstation equivalent and it disappears from the service. Afterwards if you purchase the game do the settings and game progress transfer over?

Yes.

 

[SaiWa]

Question. When you play a game on Game Pass or the Playstation equivalent and it disappears from the service. Afterwards if you purchase the game do the settings and game progress transfer over?

It's a yes for both PS and Gamepass with some conditions maybe.

If the game supports cloud saves (and most should) then it's not a problem.

On PS I've experienced issues. After upgrading on PS5 I lost a few saves that didn't transfer over. Tried to play the DLC for Ghost of Tsushima and my saves couldn't be found anywhere so I ended up not playing it because I had to restart from the beginning. I plan on doing it eventually but I had another game in the wings waiting and didn't want to invest that much time to re-running Ghost.

With Gamepass I cannot confirm since I have not re-purchased Hades but I am assuming so. I did read somewhere that your cloud save files are guaranteed on console version but not PC. It's dependent on the PC game. Not sure if this is true or not and I didn't dive too deeply into it to confirm the validity. But you should assume you keep your saves on the cloud unless they say so.

 

[Madmick]

Game Pass signs either 1-year or 2-year contracts for games that have a temporary window on the service. I estimate most would concur that's plenty of time to complete a game. If you don't complete it in that time, I dare opine this reflects the deeper truth that one never really felt a genuine desire to play it. In the history of the service there's only been about a dozen games with different contracts windows (6 months, 8 months, 3 years, 6 years).

Over this history, 746 games have received such temporary contracts, and about 50 of those were retired former serials of the EA sports franchises that are no longer current. 539 games have been permanent, or have not been removed at all.

 

[gondo]

It varies from person to person really. I at first thought it was horrible. Then I realized I only ever replay a handful of games so who cares if they go away eventually. Then a few games that I got the plat for went away and that bothered me.

So after my sub expires I'm done with it. Which is mid Octorber. Same with the playstation version as well. I've got my PC hooked up to my TV and running steam big picture mode now. My PC literally runs like a console now and the new Big Picture mode is incredible.

I agree it varies and I definitely see the value but I’m sure having ps plus for 2 years kind of killed the need for game pass outside of the day one releases. It’s cheap enough that I don’t care about paying for it for now and I’ve already given up on ps plus. It’s weird how I prefer the version of most games on console but would rather play on pc due to mods and having better hardware to run it. I’m a couch and controller type of gamer.

 

[method115]

It’s weird how I prefer the version of most games on console but would rather play on pc due to mods and having better hardware to run it. I’m a couch and controller type of gamer.

This also varies for me but most time I prefer PC because I get more options as far as performance for my game. I'm also a couch gamer I don't even have a keyboard/mouse connected to my PC and haven't for months.

 

[Dizzy]

Thread is really highlighting how subjective the value of Game Pass is. Glad there’s ways to find it dirt cheap, otherwise I’m not sure how worthwhile it really is.

 

[method115]

Thread is really highlighting how subjective the value of Game Pass is. Glad there’s ways to find it dirt cheap, otherwise I’m not sure how worthwhile it really is.

I think it has a ceiling much lower than sub services for TV. Phil pretty much said the growth on console has stalled. PC has a much larger user base so that will continue to grow but eventually it will hit a ceiling as well. If MS was smart they would try to team up with Steam but not sure if the concessions they would have to make would be worth it. I honestly think they could even charge more to steam users and they would pay it.

 

[Madmick]

A bit of further edification for the forum. Counting only games that have received multiple GOTY votes, as previously some in this forum have avowed they are fans of these tracker services, Game Pass has boasted the amount of following titles during the 9th gen console years. These have been available on every tier of the service (except what would have been the newly added "Core" tier which replaced Xbox Live Gold):

• 2020: 6 of 16 games
• 2021: 10 of 20 games (including the majority winner GOTY)
• 2022: 6 of 12 games

 

[SaiWa]

Thread is really highlighting how subjective the value of Game Pass is. Glad there’s ways to find it dirt cheap, otherwise I’m not sure how worthwhile it really is.

it also highlights how a certain “Superfan” is desperately making post after post trying to upsell on the merits of Gamepass. As if he’s getting paid per post to mention GP. It’s quite amusing.

 

[Madmick]

My goodness. Playstation fanboys are so entitled to their fanboyism they even manage project in a thread that only exists because a Playstation-owning mod recognized they were mass trolling/negging an Xbox exclusive game thread so badly, yet again, that he was forced to segregate the derail, and give it this thread.

Telling.

 

[Dizzy]

it also highlights how a certain “Superfan” is desperately making post after post trying to upsell on the merits of Gamepass. As if he’s getting paid per post to mention GP. It’s quite amusing.

Weirdest thing, especially when their entire persona is made up of shilling for a mega corporation. Call me a fanboy but at least I play the games.

 

[SaiWa]

from one fanboy to all other fanboys in here!!!

 

[My Spot]

 

[KaNesDeath]

@Valhoven @Schoolboy Q @SaiWa


Danke : )