Services such as Game Pass are “worthless” without proper support from game developers, says former Bethesda executive Pete Hines.
He believes that any subscription is based solely on content. And if the creators of this content do not receive support and reward, the model falls apart. He admitted that he saw “short-sighted decisions a few years ago,” but they didn’t happen, so the industry is feeling the consequences now.
“Subscriptions have become the new four letter word, right? You can’t buy a product anymore. When you talk about a subscription that relies on content, if you don’t figure out how to balance the needs of the service and the people running the service with the people who are providing the content – without which your subscription is worth jack s*** – then you have a real problem,” says Hines, who left Bethesda in 2023 after 24 years.
According to him, the pressure on studios in this model is harmful to everyone. Developers are forced to work in an ecosystem that does not value their work.
“You need to properly acknowledge, compensate and recognize what it takes to create that content and not just make a game, but make a product,” he emphasized.
The topic is not new: back in 2024, Microsoft boasted of $5 billion in revenue from Game Pass for the year, while developers pay a lot of money to get on gaming services. In parallel closed Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks studios. The latter was later rescued by PUBG publisher Krafton.
At the same time, Arkane founder Rafael Colantonio called Game Pass the “elephant in the room” and “an unsustainable model.” In the same vein, former PlayStation CEO Sean previously questioned the idea of Netflix for games, as the platform is unlikely to be useful for developers. Therefore, we can see that the industry is increasingly asking — is this convenience too expensive for those who create games?
Source: IGN
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