There are a lot of trends in the world of modern video games that give me pause. However, as far as optics go, Microsoft’s Xbox branch has at least appeared to me to be a mostly harmless entity. Their social media presence is usually quite positive, and Phil Spencer puts on a heck of a good “cool guy” face, what with his gaming reference t-shirts and regular praise for the competition. But the cold reality of what Microsoft is aiming for has been brought to light in a rather stark way thanks to some recent court documents leaking many of the company’s long-term plans. What happens when Xbox buys the world?

Like every corporation that makes video games, they claim to be in it for the love of games themselves, which I honestly believe is at least partially true, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Microsoft is very much a part of the grotesque side of the business. The one that expects year over year growth in perpetuity. The one that has no problem raising the base price for their games to $70. The one that will gladly jump on any opportunity to make more and more money, oftentimes with little regard for the human cost. 

Now, I’m not a crazy person. I know the whole point of a business is to make money. They aren’t out here making games simply for charity. Making games costs money, and they can’t very well make more games if they don’t earn any money. But what’s been bubbling to the surface over the past few years is getting scary. 

I've often been afraid of what would happen when Xbox Buys the World, but their acquisition of Activision in particular has always rubbed me the wrong way. Activision is the very first 3rd party video game publisher. No, the company doesn’t resemble its original iteration in any shape or form, and is in fact currently one of the most detestable companies on the planet, but them being acquired by Microsoft just feels… wrong. To have Activision no longer be an independent entity leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, and Microsoft has no designs on stopping there, which is where things get really scary. 

XBHD Plug-and-Play HD Adapter for Xbox - EON

$149.99

PLEASE NOTE: The original batch we received had a brightness issue that was since resolved in a firmware update by the manufacturer.  All units going...… read more

Microsoft wants to own everything. They want to create a monopoly and just own video games as a whole. They’ve apparently been working on ways to purchase Valve and Nintendo for ages now, and the implications of them owning those two names should scare the pants off of any gamer. That much power consolidated in one place is never good for the consumer, and while their purchase of Nintendo is EXTREMELY unlikely, the fact that this multi-billion dollar corporation seems undeterred by any and all hurdles standing in their way of such an acquisition is terrifying. I can’t say I know enough about Valve as a company to know how they’ve taken the news that Microsoft wants to purchase them, but them owning Steam would surely be a strange thing indeed. 

The other thing that has me ruffled lately is Game Pass. There’s little question that as a value proposition, Game Pass is an extraordinary deal. What concerns me is what’s happening to the games themselves. Microsoft is absolutely attempting to transition away from physical media completely, as most industries are, and from a preservation standpoint, that scares me. Sure, it’s likely that the vast majority of games that are only available digitally will continue to be available in some fashion going forward, but who knows what that actually means? Maybe I’m just a crotchety old man, but I like having my games on a shelf so that in 10 years if I want to play them again, I can simply pick them up, plug them in, and give them a go. It’s one of the many reasons I love the Switch so much, because the audience for physical products on that platform has made their wishes VERY clear, but even then, the physical nature of games in general seems to be becoming more and more fleeting as time goes on. 

Game Pass has opened the doors to other nasty things as well. I’ve heard reports that game developers are sometimes having a hard time actually earning money off of their games when they’re on the service, since nobody is actually buying them, but the recent trend of big name games offering Early Access for a price has left me scratching my head. These games are being advertised as being playable “Day One on Game Pass” but they’re also being offered to people who pay more money to be playable even earlier than that. So what exactly does Day One even mean anymore? Should people be paying for Game Pass AND the opportunity to play games early? 

I don’t know, it all seems like it’s leading down a dark path. Ever since the advent of loot boxes and hyper-monetized mobile games I’ve felt more and more out of touch with the industry with the exception of Nintendo who while I acknowledge aren’t exactly saints, do seem to be a far easier company to actually like than their competition. That’s a feeling I’m not a fan of. I used to really enjoy learning about what gaming was like on the platforms I didn’t follow as much, and I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Xbox. It’s been a great ride watching them try and find their place in the industry. They’re less arrogant than Sony, and less insane than Nintendo, but under that friendly presentation is something I really don’t like. The industry should never stagnate, and change can be a very good thing, but not all change is good. I guess we’ll see how this all shakes out.