At the Game Developers Conference held recently, Microsoft announced Xbox Game Pass, a subscription-based streaming service for games started in partnership with GameStop Corp.
The company also confirmed that it is working with GameStop stores to offer Game Pass prepaid cards to Xbox owners, similar to the Xbox Live cards currently being sold by GameStop.
Microsoft appears to be on a roll, focusing heavily on the gaming segment, not only with its recent Xbox initiatives, but also by bringing Game Mode to Windows 10 Creators Update, which we hope will be released before the month is out.
Xbox Game Pass subscriptions are $15/month, and could be a threat to GameStop’s core business because it deals with digital games that can’t be traded in since they’re not owned in the first place.
Nevertheless, GameStop shares took a bad hit two years ago when EA Access, a similar subscription service, was launched. Brick and mortar game retailers are increasingly coming under pressure from digital games, and this partnership with Microsoft is one way of mitigating that risk to its physical business.
GameStop now expects at least half of its total revenues to come from digital channels, as opposed to physical game sales.
Game Pass is currently in beta mode, and available to Xbox One testers. No launch date has been announced for the service, but it should be coming soon since the company mentioned a spring release.
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