Quote:Are we? Where are we seeing thisLook at that leaked list of possible deals.
Microsoft identifies a bunch of 'crown jewels' that publishers wouldn't make deals on which are basically cookie cutter sequels. They identify a bunch games impossible to bring over because there is no PC version (and that goes against their policy). And finally they trash a few games that turned out to be big hits (Baldurs Gate 3). So they are still very much the company that passed on signing GTA3 exclusive when they could.
They also realize that there is very little interesting enough to 'buy' within 16 months in terms of 'exclusives' to fill the gap of no 1st party releases.
There's also the issue that Xbox gamers aren't buying as many games because the expectation is that they will appear on GamePass eventually anyway.
To keep people subscribed and add more subscriptions they need a steady supply of (exclusive) high quality content and there simply isn't enough of it. They are also pretty much forced to put games like Starfield on Steam and not have those as GamePass exclusive.
Games also have to be designed differently for GamePass because they measure success in 'hours played' vs. copies sold or player counts. In Forza Motorsport they are changing the reward system so you need to use a car for 3 to 5 hours to accumulate enough car points to buy its upgrades. There is a backlash against GAAS games (and EA was dead wrong about singleplayer games if we look at what is currently popular) and Microsoft has created a platform mostly catered towards the GAAS model, specifically yesterdays GAAS when it comes to third party games.