Xbox Game Pass offers subscribers the opportunity to discover smaller studio games while positively changing gaming culture.
If you’re into gaming, it’s easy to keep up with the big releases coming out. In the gaming world, special events like Xbox Gamescom and PlayStation’s Showcases keep us up to date on the latest, hottest games. But what happens to other games that may not have as much hype, and most importantly- the money- to help with marketing and branding?
Many times, they get left out. It’s not necessarily intentional; but it’s something many people who love developing games face. The issue of putting so much effort into game creation, and then risking your finished product getting buried in the large catalogue of bigger-budget studios is all too real. It’s enough to inadvertently gatekeep gaming to up-and-coming developers.
The Lay of the Land
For a quick breakdown, popular games that are most-talked about are usually AAA games. While it’s not a formal category, it’s basically just a term used for bigger budget games by the larger studios with more cash to spend.
This means AAA games are given the full VIP treatment. Not only is the game in production, but money is budgeted for marketing and advertising. It’s much like the classification of “blockbuster” when you’re talking about movies.
AAA games come with a lot of clout and expectations. For starters, people turn to AAA games as a safety net first. The consumer knows (for the most part) the game they are spending money on works correctly, has minor bug issues, a relevant storyline and is obviously, playable.
While we all love to play a cool large-budget game, there are some negative sides to this classification system, and the game-to-consumer ratio. What happens is many games by small studios and single devs get overlooked.
Smaller Studios Given More of a Fighting Chance
This is where Game Pass comes into play, and quite literally changes the game. It makes the playing field more diverse.
Xbox’s Game Pass gives subscribers a chance to play AAA games, but also shines light on smaller games with minimal marketing budgets. Before Game Pass, video game lovers were forced to shell out money and just hope and pray their purchase was worth it.
Now, by offering gamers a set rate of 14.99 per month, users have access to an entire library of games, and small studios are not overlooked. There’s also a rollout schedule, so you can play a game on Game Pass, and if you like it enough, you can go out and purchase it.
A console is already a large investment and for many families, these small studio and single-dev games have been inaccessible because of money constraints. Families don’t always have the money to spend on multiple consoles and then games for each one.
Xbox GamePass Ultimate includes the benefits of Xbox Live Gold and EA Play, which makes it a fiscally sound alternative for gamers who want a chance to play all types of games, without breaking the bank.
It’s quite refreshing and couldn’t come at a better time than The Pandemic; when families are playing video games even more together. Smaller games like SkateBIRD by Glass Bottom Games and PHOGS by Bit Loom are getting more screen time by users being able to access them.
Only time will tell what happens next, but Game Pass continues to change gaming culture positively by giving more people access to gaming, and providing opportunity for smaller developers.
