Former Xbox VP expresses concern that Game Pass will destroy the entire gaming industry and no one will buy games anymore – Qooah

Recently, Ed Fries, the former vice president of game publishing at Microsoft, talked about his concerns about the Xbox Game Pass (hereafter referred to as XGP) subscription service, because this very successful service may cause people to stop buying games. Fries worked at Microsoft from 1986 to 2004, where he helped launch the most famous original Xbox console in 2001.

This news comes from an interview on the Xbox Expansion Podcast. Fries touches on many different topics, but the most interesting is the future of gaming. When asked if he would make any changes to his strategy if he were still part of the Xbox team now, EdFries said the XGP service would make him uncomfortable because it could bring down the industry.

Fries said, “XGP made me uncomfortable because there was a similar thing called Spotify that was created for the music industry. When Spotify started to grow rapidly, it destroyed the music industry. I mean, it took the year of the music industry. Revenues are cut in half, and it keeps people from buying music.”

Fries doesn’t want the gaming industry to repeat the same mistakes, saying “We have to be careful not to create the same systems in the gaming industry. These markets are more fragile than people realize… XGP worries me, as a consumer, I love it. As a Consumers, and I love Spotify, and I have all the music I want in it. It’s a great deal for consumers, but it’s not necessarily a good thing for the industry.”

Both Microsoft and PlayStation have said subscription services will never be the dominant model for video games. While Microsoft XGP already has more than 25 million subscribers, it still has a long way to go to reach the level of Spotify (182 million) and Netflix (222 million).