Windows Central Insider
In a recent interview with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma at Fortune Conversations, fans got a little insight into what the next 100 days of Xbox might look like. While many comments were broad in nature, there were a few that stood out to me, and more than enough to spark some discussion.
Starting off, Sharma reaffirmed that Game Pass was losing subscribers: “We had raised the prices 50% last year, and we were on the path to seeing a decay in subscribers, and so it had just simply become too unaffordable, and so we adjusted the price for players.”
This is something Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Mathew Ball also recently spoke about, in which he detailed the loss of millions of subscribers. What's particularly interesting, however, is what Sharma says next: “We're starting to see more subscribers, we're starting to see more importantly better retention, and we've got more work to do. So, we'll be doing more this summer in order to create more flexible offerings to meet all the types of players that we have, and we'll continue to iterate on that.”
There have been rumors of a more flexible version of Game Pass, with some even suggesting a tier that includes Netflix. Realistically, though, that quote could mean almost anything. Personally, I'd love to see a pick-and-mix style Game Pass, where players can choose exactly which benefits they want to pay for.
For Xbox console fans, Sharma was also asked: “What are some things you're considering that you would never (have) imagined would be the case five years ago, or that Xbox would have never imagined the case five years ago?”
In response, Sharma gave a surprisingly candid answer:
“Hard to tell, because I wasn't, I wasn't there, but I think that we will, you know, continue to look at new business models. I think, is what is needed for console, rather than just the most premium, high-performance console in the world… I think we've reached a point where it will be hard to imagine that mass audiences can afford 1000s of dollars to spend on a console generation, and so I think we will start to see radically different business models that we never expected start to come into orbit later this year”
As for what those radically different business models might look like, your guess is probably as good as mine. Xbox All Access or Cloud gaming is an obvious possibility, but beyond that, it's difficult to predict exactly what Sharma is referring to. Either way, it will be interesting to see what materializes from these comments over the coming months.
With that, let me know your thoughts on Sharma's comments. Do they excite you about the future of Xbox, or do they leave you with more questions than answers? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:
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