Analysts are chiming in on the Xbox Activision Blizzard King merger, and they’re making some very bold predictions on what is coming next.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Omdia’s senior principal analyst George Jijiashvili made this bold prediction:
“We estimate that nearly half of Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be on the Ultimate tier at the end of 2023.”
That prediction seems to be based on the idea that this acquisition will come with immediate additions and offers coming in particular to that tier of Game Pass. Jijiashvili did not elaborate on how this could play out specifically, but we can make some smart guesses here.
Now, we need to remember that Phil Spencer himself has reiterated that it will take them time to get Activision Blizzard’s library onto Game Pass. That’s because Microsoft will need time to complete their integration process for both Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, which they aren’t done integrating with yet.
Integration does not necessarily mean that there will be people who will lose their jobs, or that studios will be folded into other studios. It does mean that both companies continue to be run like they’re separate from Microsoft, and their only connection now is that their leadership is answerable to Phil Spencer.
So, if Game Pass integration will take a while to process, what can Microsoft offer now? They can actually do a few things. As we have already seen, Microsoft brought back the servers for their classic Call of Duty games, enabling multiplayer for the games that were originally published on Xbox 360.
So Microsoft can do small things like that. For Activision Blizzard’s upcoming and future games, Microsoft can already plan for the games to be made with Game Pass and even xCloud in mind. They can also handpick certain games to bring up first to Game Pass, with the most wanted of the bunch to be brought over to the Ultimate Tier.
But Jijiashvili is not done. He also said, in regards to their competition:
“This is in stark contrast to PS Plus, which we estimate around two-thirds will be on the cheapest Essential tier.”
So Jijiashvili also believes that Sony will not be able to get as many PlayStation Plus subscribers to go beyond their basic Essential Tier.
Here’s the thing; Game Pass Ultimate, at $ 16.99, is marginally more expensive than PlayStation Plus Premium, at $ 15.99. As things stand, Game Pass is already a better deal than PlayStation Plus, with Microsoft offering high profile titles on Ultimate, such as Lies of P, Sea of Stars, and Cocoon.
That’s on top of Microsoft’s homegrown games, including Hi-Fi Rush and Starfield, but also their great legacy games, like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Age of Empires II Definitive Edition, and good old Quake II.
Many fans themselves call Game Pass the best deal in gaming, and that continues to ring as true this late in 2023 as it did at the start of the year.
