Game Sub Services Stalling

Microsoft, according to various reports, is cancelling a lot of first-party games. Under current policy, these would be day-one content for Game Pass. 

John Romero, according ro reports, has said that the publisher funding Romero Games' project has also cancelled their funding. Rumor is that the publisher was Xbox which means that even third-party, day-one Game Pass content is being cut. 

This means that Xbox isn't seeing Game Pass growth, which is a problem as, arguably, the largest gaming sub service across PC, console, and cloud. People aren't subscribing so what are they spending their money on?

Looking at Steam, the latest sales darling is R.E.P.O. Another low budget, socially-driven, multiplayer that looks a lot like the other trend setters. It is influencer bait.

That seems to be the trend and the problem in gaming. Influencer bait is driving sales of the hyper-casual. Steam is quickly looking more and more like Google Play. Players pop-on to buy and play the jankey, usually incomplete flavor of the month before moving on to the next, hip thing. They are transient and uninvolved, spending money like they doom scroll. It is meme culture in financial fashion. 

The FOMO, influencer scroll plague in gaming is culminating in a glut of low quality, temporary projects and GAAS fighting for relevance in the minds of the attention deficit, attention craving ilk that has no intention of really enjoying anything. They aren't like the Warhammer or Final Fantasy fans that will jump across entire industries to support their universes. 

Xbox is failing because they want growth, not community. Steam is successful because they support influencers, not community. In the end, the only true loser in gaming is community.