Arkane Studios founder slams Microsoft for its Game Pass focus: 'At some point reality has to hit'

Xbox Game Pass might be popular among gamers, but if you ask Arkane Studios founder Raphael Colantonio, it's bad news for gamers and developers alike in the long run.

If there was one takeaway from Microsoft's annual Xbox Games Showcase last month, it was the central role of Xbox Game Pass in the future of Microsoft's gaming strategy. This weekend, Colantonio, who parted ways with Arkane eight years ago, spoke out about that shift, slamming Microsoft's increasing reliance on its subscription service.

In a post on X, Colantonio said, "I think Gamepass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by MS’s 'infinite money', but at some point reality has to hit. I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up."

He added in replies to the post that Game Pass is "a long game that involves throwing a tsunami at the entire ecosystem of the industry. Only the gamers like it because the offer is too good to be true, but eventually even gamers will hate it when they realize the effects on the games."

"I’m sure it has been good for some people but you have to look at the net results."

Colantonio left Arkane Studios in 2017 before its parent company, ZeniMax Media, was acquired by Microsoft in 2021. He was at the studio's helm back when it was making Dishonored and Prey (both of which are now on Game Pass), but has been busy with new projects at studio WolfEye during Arkane's Microsoft era.

Colantonio isn't the first critic to point out Game Pass' similarities to TV streaming services. Game Pass is a great deal for gamers, just like Netflix, Disney+, and all the rest were originally. Now, prices are higher, these services are filled with ads, and careers in Hollywood are drying up as streaming struggles to turn a profit.

It's not hard to imagine Game Pass leading the games industry down a similar path. However this pans out, Microsoft is clearly too committed to the service to back out, given its slumping console sales. For better or worse, Xbox's fate is tied to Game Pass, which means beloved studios like Obsidian, Arkane Lyon, and Bethesda's are as well.