Arkane Founder Slams Xbox Game Pass, Calls It “Unsustainable” and “Damaging the Industry for a Decade”

Even though Arkane Studios is now part of Xbox, its founder Raphael Colantonio isn’t holding back when it comes to criticizing Xbox Game Pass. In a series of tweets, Colantonio shared his thoughts on why he thinks the subscription service is causing more harm than good in the gaming world.

Colantonio, who helped create games like Dishonored, Prey, and the upcoming Marvel’s Blade, says that Game Pass 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.”

He believes that Game Pass can’t really exist alongside other business models. In his words, it will “either kill everyone else, or give up.” If that happens, more Xbox studios could end up getting shut down.

The concern here is pretty straightforward. Colantonio is worried that while gamers love Game Pass now because of how cheap and convenient it is, the long-term effects might not be so great. He compared the situation to what’s happened in other industries, like movies and music.

“It’s a long game that involves throwing a tsunami at the entire ecosystem of the industry,” he said. “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.”

He also compared Game Pass to services like Spotify. “Users enjoy Spotify because of the value proposition, but it is a horrible model for musicians,” he added. “It only works for Spotify and the huge musicians and the major labels who have a stake in Spotify.”

Colantonio’s comments come at a time when Game Pass is still adding lots of new games, including Grounded 2, The Outer Worlds 2, Hollow Knight Silksong, and the next Call of Duty. But his words raise a real question: can a service like Game Pass keep going the way it is without hurting the rest of the industry?

Only time will tell, but for now, Colantonio has made it clear he’s not a fan of where things might be heading.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!