Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collecton bypassing Xbox highlights a major problem that Game Pass has caused

Xbox Game Pass is one of the best values in gaming today. For a low monthly cost, or even less if you pay for a yearly subscription, you have access to hundreds of video games at the click of a button. At the time of writing, there are 537 unique games on Xbox Game Pass, with 458 available on console, and 438 available on PC, with 382 of those being streamable via Cloud Gaming to devices such as your smartphone, tablet, or TV. Every first and second-party title launches on day one, including the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and previous major releases such as Starfield. With thousands of hours of content available for the price of a cup of coffee, why would you ever consider dropping $70 on a game?

During the recent Nintendo Direct, a shocking announcement was made in that Marvel Vs. Capcom is back for the first time in seven years, with a collection of its classic titles being bundled together and sold for the first time. Some of these titles haven’t been available since their original releases, such as 1993’s The Punisher and 1996’s X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, while some, such as Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 did see later ports to the PS3, Xbox 360, and iOS. 

Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is set to be a major release for the fighting game community. This comes following all of the heavy hitters, Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, and Tekken 8 being released within 7 months between June 2023 and January 2024. Coupled with the upcoming releases of games such as Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, fighting game fans are eating well right now. Some players have already speculated that this could lead to a collection of the Capcom Vs. SNK titles, which is further backed up by the news that the two publishers are teaming up for the first time in many years to bring Fatal Fury and King of Fighters characters to the Street Fighter 6 Year 2 Pass. 

In an episode of the Friends Per Second podcast, the hosts discuss a problem that Game Pass is causing in that many game developers are now bypassing Xbox as a platform to release their games on if they don’t have a deal for it to launch on the subscription service. 

“But how much are developers sacrificing in order to prop up that mode? I don’t know the answers to that. Interestingly, a member of my team reached out to about a dozen game makers to ask them “how are you feeling about publishing your games on Xbox?” And one of the things that came back from a few of those developers was the idea that it’s not worth putting your game on Xbox unless you have a Game Pass deal. Because Xbox consumers are essentially conditioned now to expect their games on Game Pass. So if you’re going to port your game to Xbox and expect to make your money back from sales alone, it’s probably not going to happen. It’s really fascinating insight about how Game Pass has shaped consumer behavior specific to the Xbox platform, to the point where developers don’t want to port a game unless they get that Game Pass deal to lock in their revenue.”

Wondering why Xbox doesn't get more 3rd party games?

Listen to him as he explains what developers have discovered about Xbox consumer habits. pic.twitter.com/uzgMlEnbCF

— James (@JamiesAct) June 18, 2024

It is worth noting that this clip isn’t referencing Marvel Vs. Capcom, as the episode was released two weeks before the announcement, or that this is the reason that Capcom chose to release the game on PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. But it does confirm questions and thoughts that I’ve had about Xbox over the past couple of days, even unrelated to Marvel Vs. Capcom but about the future of the platform.

Following the announcement, ‘No Xbox’ began to trend of X, with many gamers wondering why Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection would not be released on Xbox. It has since come to light that the reason is likely due to the games running on the old MT Framework engine, which was never optimized for the Xbox One and hasn’t been updated for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Some games have been released on the Xbox One that do use the engine, including the Ace Attorney trilogy remaster. However, it’s sales figures were leaked in 2020 and out of the 816,704 sales the game had at the time, only 4,821 were on Xbox. Since the MT Framework engine would need significant investment to optimise for modern Xbox hardware, it is understandable why Capcom are reluctant to spend the money and choose to bypass Xbox. With Microsoft’s push to make Xbox Game Pass an essential part of any of its user’s monthly expenses, due to every first and second-party title launching on day one on the service, many players may have become conditioned to not purchasing games on the system. 

Of course, players still do purchase games on the system, with the likes of Hypercharge, a small indie project, beating out the likes of GTA 5 in the Xbox charts. But, with many of the major releases being on Game Pass, there is less incentive to open your wallet to purchase a game when there are over 400 available on Game Pass at any one time. In recent weeks we have seen Microsoft close studios such as Tango Gameworks, the Shinji Mikami-founded studio that was responsible for the beloved Hi-Fi Rush, after it failed to meet sales and revenue expectations largely caused by its inclusion on Game Pass. Hellblade 2 launched last month to mediocre fanfare and I would be surprised if that game meets any sales goals. It would be sad to see Ninja Theory closed should that be the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised by the news. 

Despite both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X being similar under the hood, there are still many differences and challenges that developers face when porting games to each system. So, without a Game Pass deal from Microsoft, which would guarantee a set amount of revenue for the release, and the prospect of low game sales on the system, it isn’t surprising to see more titles bypass Xbox, and I do fear that this will become more common over time.