This week in gaming might as well be called “This Week in Game Pass”, with the Game Pass app for FireTV devices, changes to the Game Pass subscription service, Modern Warfare 3 coming to GP and now speculation that Microsoft might stop promoting consoles in EMEA. The First Descendant came in for some criticism and Eve Online is getting another spin off
Game Pass comes to Fire TV
The week started with what we thought was going to be the big news for the week and that is that you can now play Xbox Game Pass via your Amazon Fire TV stick. Grab yourself a controller and stream games directly to your TV, no console required. Although quite why Microsoft felt the need to push the no console required element so hard is anyones guess. We’d be intrigued to know how many Game Pass subscribers dont have an Xbox console already.
Its worth remembering that you have been able to do this if you have certain Samsung TVs for quite some time. Of course being available on the FireTV range of devices, which have sold 150 million units at least, opens this up to a lot more people.
No consoles in Europe
Tom Warren at the verge has heard that Microsoft are considering pulling out of marketing their consoles in the EMEA space. This was revealed to non susbcribers of the news letter via Insider Gaming.
According to a “tip” Warren received, Microsoft will reportedly stop marketing the Xbox console itself in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Instead, the company will focus solely on Xbox Game Pass, cloud gaming, PC, and Xbox controllers.
This comes as a surprise to us, but perhaps signals a realisation from Xbox Executives that they should stop throwing good money after bad, and that a shift in focus is required. Xbox console sales have been lagging behind PlayStation for some time and every metric Microsoft has tell them how many more units they can expect to shift, for every dollar of marketing money spent in the region.
Subscription service hikes prices, people lose mind
In a move that should have come as no surprise to anyone, but apparently caught half of the internet unawares, Xbox are raising the price of Game Pass across the board, and are also expected to announce a new tier. So lets try and make sense of it all.
Essentially Xbox have removed the Console Game Pass offering and instead replaced it with a “Standard” tier. The big change here is this doesnt include day 1 releases and is instead just all the back cataloge, plus multiplayer from Live gold. It seems they have also stripped out EA Play from the Standard console tier making it a poor value proposition.
The best of the bunch appears to be PC Game Pass which is everything in Game Pass Ultimate but without the streaming. And at nearly half the price of Ultimate PC gamers are well catered for here.
If you are a current Game Pass Console subscriber you will be able to maintain that subscription, along with your Day 1 access to new releases. Only new users have lost the ability to sign up for it.
| Tier | Price | Features |
| Core | $9.99 | 25 game selection Multiplayer |
| Standard | $14.99 | Back catalogue Multiplayer |
| PC | $11.99 | Day 1 releases Back catalogue EA play |
| Ultimate | $19.99 | Day 1 Releases Back catalogue Game Streaming EA play |
For all the hand wringing and fake outrage we have seen over the last few days its worth remembering that costs every where have gone up and streaming services of all kinds have raised prices. In this regard Microsoft is not out on a limb. Where they have made a mistake is in the messaging which is as confused as the Game Pass tier naming conventions. When you compare Game Pass to the Playstation Plus offering its a confusing mess, to PlayStation’s simple clarity. 3 tiers, 3 prices, and to our minds decent value add for anyone.
Modern Warfare 3 coming to Game Pass
We covered this story here calling it the CODPOCALYPSE. Does the addition of Call od Duty games finally tip the balance of power in the games industry in Microsofts favour? Will it boost Game Pass revenue significantly? Find out in the story below.
The First Descendant accused of ripping off Destiny
Insider Gaming lead with a story about The First Descendant “ripping off” every other game on the market, but specifically Desting 2 and Warframe. Comparisons to games within the same genre are inevitable but perhaps The First Decendant strays a little more in to the “directly copied from” rather than “paying homage” or “inspired by categories.
You can read the Insider Gaming report at the link below.
Eve Vanguard to release this year
CCP games have released an update for their upcoming FPS title, set in the EVE Online Universe. The game is expected to release in early access in Steam later in the year and from statements made in the developer video below the game is set to be one of the most ambitious ever produced, with players from the MMO and FPS titles able to affect the outcome of each others battles, set up contracts for completition and generally help to bring each others worlds alive.
Predatory gaming tactics
And finally whilst im sure this comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed gaming over the last decade, the rise in predatory, exploitative practices in the gaming industry has been brought to further light by the blog post from gamedeveloper.com
As the article states:
I want to shed light on a tactic that involves collecting data as you play, feeding this data into complex algorithms and models that then alter the rules of your game under the hood to optimize spending opportunities.
All well and good you might think. Many games are free to play and they need to be funded somehow. Right? Well no. The issue isnt the money being exchanged. Its the methods employed to do so. There is no transparancy and given the somtimes addictive nature of gaming, the industry is veering once again a little too closely to gambling industry practices. Gaming execs would do well to remember just how tightly regulated that industry has become.
Twice the bits 
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