Arkane Studios founder calls Game Pass "unsustainable model", and one which is "damaging the industry"

Game Pass – Microsoft’s subscription service across Xbox and PC that offers members a catalogue of games and other perks – is “unsustainable” and “damaging” the industry.

That’s according to Arkane Studios founder Raphael Colantonio, who shared his thoughts on “the elephant in the room” following last week’s layoffs at Microsoft. That elephant? Game Pass.

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“I think Game Pass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidised by [Microsoft’s] ‘infinite money’, but at some point reality has to hit,” Colantonio, whose works include Dishonored and Prey, wrote on social media.

“I don’t think [Game Pass] can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.”

Colantonio’s observations were spotted by Larian’s director of publishing Michael Douse, who said the “most vocal concern” from within his own network was: “What happens when all that money runs out?”

Douse said this was “one of the main economic reasons people I know haven’t shifted to its business model”, stating “the infinite money thing never made any sense”. In response, Colantonio said he agreed with Douse, adding: “I’m fed up with all the bs they fed us at first like ‘don’t worry, it doesn’t impact the sales’, only to admit years later that it totally does.”