Xbox Game Pass is a Scam. Here's why.

I’ve been thinking about something for a long time. It feels like a real boomer take, but it’s also — in my opinion — the right take.

For the yearly cost of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you could buy three AAA games. Or you could buy nine indie games priced at $20 each. And if you bought them physically, you'd own them. But if you pay the $14.99 a month that Game Pass requires and then fail to pay one month?

You own nothing.

You have nothing.

You get nothing.

This is one of the reasons I believe Game Pass is a scam.

Microsoft's Strategy: Buy and Lock In

It’s no secret that Microsoft has been acquiring studios — Bethesda, Double Fine, Ninja Theory — developers that make hugely popular titles. The reason? To stuff Game Pass full of games people want and then hold them hostage on Game Pass.

Phil Spencer has even said they plan on acquiring more developers. I wouldn’t be surprised if they bought Electronic Arts. Yeah, that Electronic Arts. EA Sports.

The Problem With Game Pass

The problem is that most gaming pundits I see on YouTube — like Spawn Wave and Modern Vintage Gamer — say things like “Game Pass is the best deal in gaming.” And a lot of gamers seem to agree:

People in my comments on Steam Deck videos have asked me again and again: Can it play Game Pass?

But here’s the fact: Game Pass is a closed ecosystem. One you have absolutely no control over. It’s a walled garden — one with taller walls than anything Apple’s ever built. And it’s a garden owned by Microsoft, one of the least trustworthy companies in the world. A company incapable of producing a product that remains consistently good for more than three years.

Microsoft’s Pattern of Corruption

Microsoft has a clear, consistent pattern: build something good, then corrupt it to maximize profits. Over and over again. Windows, Internet Explorer, Xbox, GitHub, LinkedIn — the list goes on.

The original Xbox was simple. Plug in a broadband connection, insert your game, and play. Sure, you paid for Xbox Live, but it worked. Over time, though, the value of an Xbox Live subscription plummeted.

Microsoft gave us day-one patches, constant console updates, live TV on your Xbox. Let’s not forget the Xbox One. What a failure.

Xbox Live was a great service when it launched. But over time? Microsoft invested less and less. It got flaky. Unreliable. And now it’s a near-worthless service where Microsoft holds your ability to play online games with friends hostage behind a paywall.

And don’t even get me started on Halo since Bungie left. Or Age of Empires, for God’s sake.

What’s Next?

Microsoft is going to keep acquiring businesses to stuff Game Pass. These studios? Eventually, they’ll produce crap or nothing at all.

That’s how it always goes — whether it’s Microsoft or Electronic Arts.

Sony, weirdly, seems to be the only company that can buy a studio and still keep it producing interesting games.

So what happens next? Microsoft will control far too much of the market. And then they’ll start jacking up the price of Game Pass. First $16/month. Then $20. Then $50/month — for a library full of games you don’t even care about.

And when you stop paying? You get nothing. You’ve spent thousands — maybe tens of thousands — on a service you now have zero access to.

Nothing. You get nothing if you stop paying.

That, my friends, is the definition of a scam.

Ownership Matters

Meanwhile, if you’d been buying your games all along? Sure, you’d have a smaller library than what Game Pass offers. But you’d own those games.

You wouldn’t have a bill due at the end of every month for the rest of your life – just to access games you already essentially paid for but have no claim to.

I’m singling out Game Pass because it’s the most obvious and bald-faced scam. But this holds true for Netflix and Spotify too. You pay for the rest of your life… until one day you can’t, or just don’t want to — and then you have nothing to show for all the money you spent.

Game Pass is Microsoft’s worst scam yet. I won’t apologize for believing that. And as a friend, I think you should stop paying for it.