Hadn't considered how microsoft purchasing a major games studio might affect steam ? so yeah likely microsoft is the dark horse. at $15 for game pass, folks might all together forgo buying some titles on steam. me though hardly a gamer will stick to buying discounted games.
Right now I'm primarily using Game pass to play games on my Android phone, and at that it's doing a very good job. As a very surprising bonus, I saw flight simulator was included. This is downright aggressive of Microsoft. They're bundling a $60 game with a $15 a month service. Meaning even if you don't particularly like streaming games, you get your money's worth as long as every three months or so Microsoft adds another $60 game.
Of course since we all forget things, eventually you'll let Game pass keep recurring while sparsely using the service. This Gym like model is what every subscription service strives for.
I'm not complaining, if anything I might buy a new Xbox since I'm already entitled to tons of Gamepass games as well as Xbox live.
Edit: Might also just play everything on my PC. Good job Microsoft. Took them 3 generations , but they've finally merged the PC and console. Nothing on the Series X isn't coming to pick
He makes a bold assertion though that Microsoft will include new AAA titles from its various properties in Game Pass from day 1. I find that very doubtful, and so Steam's purpose will continue to be selling games for the first ~6 months of their release cycle (when the bulk of sales anyways happpen).
Day 1 releases is one of the main draws of Game Pass. The Game Pass marketing site [1] has an entire section labeled "Play Day One" that says
"Be among the first to play the latest titles from Xbox Game Studios and ID@Xbox, available to Xbox Game Pass members the same day as their global release."
One down side my son discovered recently is when he went to play red dead redemption 2, which he only recently started, and it had been pulled. It was a little frustrating. Otherwise game pass has been a pretty good value.
