Last week, Microsoft surprised its fans with the announcement that its offer for its first-party titles that will be available, since its launch, in the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. The revelation had a positive impact on users of the Microsoft consoles family, but it was bad news for some independent video game stores.
According to a report by GamesIndustry, some independent video game stores in the United Kingdom have taken the Xbox Game Pass announcement in a negative way because the opinion of the owners is that it is a very hard blow for their businesses.
In that sense, the site refers some opinions of store owners, who believe that their business related to Xbox products is coming to an end, as stated by the owner of a store in Leicestershire, England: “Essentially, it’s made [our Xbox business] worthless overnight. You’ve got the whole section sat there, and why would people buy a £12 to £15 second-hand game when they can just pay a tenner and get a massive catalogue of titles to keep them going? Effectively overnight they’ve wiped massive value off our company and made it not worth doing.”
Some store owners in the region have chosen not to invest again in Xbox One products after the announcement because they believe that this would represent losses for their business; so they are just waiting until the merchandise they still have available runs out. At the same time, many owners expressed their concern that, at some point, Nintendo and PlayStation decide to take the same path, which would mean the end of independent physical stores.
Finally, there are sellers who were unconcerned with the decision of Microsoft as they assured that they do not get much profit from Xbox products and their business potential at the moment is in PS4 and Switch.
What do you think about the changes to the Xbox Box Game Pass service? Will it have an impact and influence the industry? Tell us in the comments below.
