Another former Xbox staffer has added their voice to criticisms surrounding Xbox Game Pass and other gaming subscription services, and this time, it's ex-Xbox VP Shannon Loftis' turn to cast a critical eye over the service.
Speaking on LinkedIn, Loftis first admits that Game Pass "can claim a few victories with games that otherwise would have sunk beneath the waves", citing breakout platformer Human: Fall Flat as an example of this process in action.
However, Loftis goes on to say that "the majority of game adoption" on Xbox Game Pass "comes at the expense of retail revenue", with the exception of games that are "engineered from the ground up for post-release monetization".
Loftis concludes by saying that she "could (and may someday) write pages on the weird inner tensions this creates" among developers whose games will be appearing on Game Pass.
It's worth noting that Loftis isn't the first former Xbox staffer to offer a colorful opinion on the Game Pass subscription service this month.
Her comments follow those of ex-Bethesda exec Pete Hines, who said last week that subscription services are "worth jack shit" without companies "figur[ing] out how to balance the needs of the service...with the people who are providing the content".
Indeed, Loftis' comment was posted in response to former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden reposting Hines' comments himself, adding that the question should not be whether subscription services are profitable for their owners, but whether they are "healthy and helpful" for devs.
Launching on Game Pass on day one doesn't necessarily preclude a game from achieving financial success. Games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the recent Oblivion remaster debuted on Game Pass, but still seemingly managed to rack up very respectable sales for themselves.
Still, these execs' comments on Game Pass and other subscription services should give us pause for thought, especially when it comes to smaller indie devs (and even major first-party studios). Stay tuned for more on this.
