The gaming industry has been surrounded with a lot of hype and excitement these past couple of months. With the Launch of the PlayStation Pro, PlayStation VR and the Nintendo Switch, as well as the anticipation being built behind Microsoft's Xbox Scorpio, 2016 and 2017 will stand out as one of the most revolutionary time periods in the history of gaming. However, Microsoft had something hidden up its sleeve this entire time and just revealed it to the world.
Microsoft recently announced that they were busy developing a new service entitled “Xbox Game Pass” which many are calling the Netflix of gaming. The service would allow subscribers to download and rent games from a hefty list of Xbox titles for only $9.99 a month. Microsoft will be rotating games in and out of this list, so once the game is taken off the list it will be locked and subscribers will have to purchase the game at a discounted price to continue playing. It should be noted that while this service does not require the Xbox live gold membership to subscribe, a Gold membership would be required to utilize the multiplayer features of the games available with Xbox Game Pass subscription.
While this service is receiving a lot of good feedback from video game connoisseur around the globe, there has been some concerns developed regarding how Xbox Game Pass will effect video game retail stores specifically GameStop. For the past couple of months, it has been reported that GameStop has been struggling to maintain itself due to the high level of video games that have been purchased digitally as this is the new trend with the current generation of gaming consoles. Many think that Xbox Game Pass will end the need to buy used games which will hurt GameStop as well as other local video game retailers as buying and selling used video games are how these companies make the most profit. What a lot of people are overlooking is the fact that downloading digital games means that consumers cannot sell the digital games to put towards new games once they complete the game. So while this gaming service is going to draw a lot of revenue for Microsoft, it will not diminish the fact that gamers can sell the physical games that they complete to make newer games cheaper. GameStop also has promotions where customers can sell certain physical games for an increased amount if they put the credit towards a specific game being released. GameStop has even started taking advantage of the impatient mindset of gamers by releasing video games at 9 P.M. the night before the official release date while gamers who purchase their games digitally still have to wait until midnight.
Microsoft establishing Xbox Game Pass will without a doubt have a tremendous impact on the gaming as many other companies such as Sony will surely follow with their own variation. While Xbox Game Pass may initially affect some used game sells there is no reason to be concerned for the overall well being of video game retailers such as GameStop.