This is how Microsoft is farming Gamepass subs

In Canada, they're currently giving away 3 months of GP on pc for $1. Check the US version, they might have a promo as well. You can now play Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 for pretty much nothing.🤷‍♂️What kind of profits are they making from this? Yea... nothing.

edit: link above not working for some reason.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-CA/p/pc-1-month/CFQ7TTC0KGQ8?ranMID=36509&ranEAID=CAqD7bLWUPI&ranSiteID=CAqD7bLWUPI-FbncPx6VIdPXXorR3eEKpw&epi=CAqD7bLWUPI-FbncPx6VIdPXXorR3eEKpw&irgwc=1&OCID=AID2200057_aff_7814_1243925&tduid=(ir__z9p2eosb6kkf6mtiz3iedjntru2xox9nweyxoccz00)(7814)(1243925)(CAqD7bLWUPI-FbncPx6VIdPXXorR3eEKpw)()&irclickid=_z9p2eosb6kkf6mtiz3iedjntru2xox9nweyxoccz00&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

@hardwenzen: I did one of those deals and forgot to turn off auto renewal for a couple months. I can't be the only one lol Sad part is for the 5 months, I never used it once smh.

This is how they get you. When you sub, you turn off auto renewal. The first thing i do, including psn, etc.

Stop the press! A company offering promotional deals for their product/services.

Oh lordy! 😅

Could you post some older news?

Too difficult.

Don't be a noob.

Microsoft has been telling investors for years now the main point of their Xbox services is to get people acclimated to the cloud. That's where the money is. M$'s yoy profits nearly doubled when the pandemic hit and people had to work from home. More than 1/3 of their total profits this year came from cloud tech.

I still remember those 1-month free trial for ISPs. This was in early 2000s.

I think your news is old enough to drink.

I think it's important to remember, for context, that while games and game hardware are an important part of Microsoft, it's a relatively small chunk compared to non-game related products and services they provide. So don't act like you cancelling your sub spells doom for the company lol.

Of course it helps that revenue has gone up like 252% since 2019.

Investors don't make that call and you are ignoring the fact that Microsoft is one of the most profitable company in the world.

when you do a firmware update. it can turn auto pay renewal back on. ps anyhow,.

That's how subscriptions work.

They give away a few months so u get used towards it or forget about it and then u keep it running so they make there cash.

Why would you turn it off?

Its the best deal in gaming

They do it all the time, and allow the creation of a bunch of accounts to abuse the $1/month on pc, which inflates the numbers of registered accounts for them to brag about.

So do music streaming services do the same thing such as Prime Music and apple Music.

Take out the SWs bs with the sales obsession, how is this a bad thing? Now it's bad to offer someone months of unlimited gaming? :-S

MS aren't playing the internet system wars game, they're doing business. So what's the problem?

If only you had something to play you wouldn’t be doing Game Pass subscription research and worrying about Halo game modes.

February can’t come soon enough!

@hardwenzen:

The laughing stock of SW strikes again,keep up the good work👍

“….and the Pulitzer Prize goes to Hardwenzen for his dedicated undercover research in unearthing how a company looking to increase subscribers uses promotional deals.”

GDS ( GamePass Derangement Syndrome ) is a real thing. lol :P

Didn't Microsoft announce recently that they are making profit? what is going on here?

According to my history on my MS account, I've bought gamepass for $1 nine times.

The history goes further back, but that's as far as I could see. I know I've bought 3 months for $1 too. So I think I've bought gamepass for less than $1 about 12+ times.

Why can I repeatedly get gamepass for $1? No idea. But I'll take it.

It is! Gamepass man bad!

lol...

That'll get'em. :P

It’s for first time subscribers😒

sounds like a good deal and a great way to get people to try out the service.. 🤷‍♂️

Xbox used to be super scummy with this back in like 2008 or somewhere around there. If you subscribed to Xbox live, there was literally no way to turn off auto renewal online unless you lived in the state of Illinois, because it's illegal to not allow online cancellation if you can sign up online in that state. Microsoft made you call in to turn off the subscription, but I found you could just change your address to Illinois on your account page and then they would allow you to turn it off; however, I bet so many people called in and then maybe stayed with their subs because MS gave them something to keep the payments going.

They used to be incredibly anti-consumer when it came to their services.

@hardwenzen: Exactly how is this different than Hulu offering 1 month free, or HBOMax being $5 for 3 months? This is a common thing in the subscription business.

@hardwenzen: What a surprise it's you making this thread. You're beyond obsessed.

How do we call the levels of beyond obsessed, tho?

hardwenzen

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that there are most likely people at Microsoft with far more business acumen than anyone on this forum who are looking at the long-term plan, and see a path to profit. Whether that works or not, I guess we'll see.

😂😂

See this is some of my problem with people arguing Game Pass is the jesus of gaming and using it as a defense in system wars against Sony and Nintendo.

I keep seeing exactly this, "I can get GamePass for $1 a month! I've been doing it for over a year! Ill never have to pay full price!"

$1 a month GamePass is sustainable for MS. There's no argument. End of story.

So people need to ask themselves and argue for $15 a month Game Pass. Is it worth that? Or more? If you can't be bothered to pay $15 month then quit using Game Pass as a System Wars argument.

I personally hate the argument of game prices in system wars. Games cost money get over it, I don't care about people getting games cheap or expensive. The games are all that matters.

Yeah GP is pretty great.

Wait what is this thread about?

So disrespectful

@Star67: In my case, I don't even use gamepass other than maybe for one game per month. Used this month to try a bit of B4B, and that's it. Since I have so little use of it (the library consists of games I've already played or games I'm not interested in), I'd never get gamepass if it was 15 bucks.

Maybe that's why I get the 1 buck offer all the time..? 🤔

Most promotions are to be used once.

If your break the rules and do it more then that's on you

lol just stop. You can create a new account to get the $1/month, link it to your main, and play the games on your main account for $1. I've read people doing this for years. If MS didn't want to see inflated numbers of GP accounts, they would've shut this shit down soooooo long ago.

i pay $10/month on pc and i love Gp i haven't got on steam in months. Gp is currently the best place to play destiny 2 cause you get all the dlc and season pass. the first thing i do when i get on my pc is look what's out on Gp.

Wish they still had this offer in the US.

@hardwenzen: like I said its on those that do it. Its against terms and conditions and people do it anyways. If anyone can do let me ask why do most not.

Because they don't know that it can be done🤦‍♂️

Gamepass has been around for years, and MS didn't do anything about it. This is pretty much like stealing, and they don't do anything about it. The reason is clear on why they don't.

@hardwenzen: if I put a poll up on here I'd be very surprised if 10% do it and we all now it's possible.

If the same people where doing it and nobody knows about it the numbers wouldn't be growing.

People appriciate what they get and most are paying for it. Happy to put a poll up to prove the point most who know about it pay for it. Proving you are therefor wrong.

I knew it was possible for over a year and have never done it because i simply don't care about the titles that are currently on gp. What's your point? Its time for you to stop being such a lem and wake up.

@hardwenzen: my point is just because it can be done doesn't mean that it is. You claim the numbers increasing primarily because people are constantly signing up under the $1.

My point is you are wrong.

And my point is that you refuse to accept what's so obvious. Allowing constant creation of new accounts to abuse the $1 per month and the $1 for 3months promotion is simply inflating the sub numbers. MS knows this, but that's exactly what they want, to give you an illusion of whatever amount of millions of subs they're claiming to have.

@hardwenzen: I guess Microsoft are fudging the Billions of income that's growing all the time from gamepass to hide the millions of people paying $1 a month.

Things often look obvious to the uneducated or uninformed.

I'd suggest you look into this a bit deeper.

Microsoft are the experts at subscription services.

Also the ones that slide this one up to have inflated numbers🤦‍♂️And they're only doing this while the service is growing. When it has reached/if it reaches Netflix popularity, this $1 account creation abuse will be instantly shut down.

They're also one of the most successful companies around, which allows them to bleed cash without being too worried about it. I'd suggest you to look into this a bit deeper.