Xbox Game Pass is very popular, and some believe subscription services like it will take over and dominate gaming in a similar way to what happened in the world of music, TV, and movies. Despite Microsoft's belief in Game Pass as its secret weapon and key growth driver in the future, the company doesn't want you to go to too wild for the service.
During a livestream at Gamescom on Friday, Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said he advises against naming your child "Game Pass."
"I also ask that no one name their baby Game Pass," Greenberg said.
This wasn't a totally unprompted and random comment. Greenberg offered up his sage advice after the other interview guest, Pete Hines of Bethesda, shared a story of a woman who went into labor during a Skyrim presentation at QuakeCon in 2011. One of the interviewers joked that the family might have named their baby Dovahkiin. That didn't actually happen, but Hines said someone did in fact legally name their child Dovahkiin, and he made good on his promise to give the family free Bethesda games for life.
Regarding naming a child "Game Pass," one of the interviewers said naming a baby "Game Pass" might not even be possible due to the country's rules about child names. In any event, it's probably a good idea to not name your child after a streaming service.
Game Pass is generally seen as a very good value that people like a lot. It allows people to sample lots of games they might have otherwise missed or skipped. Microsoft is pushing Game Pass very hard as the company focuses on growing subscribers as opposed to selling consoles.
Hines said in the interview that Bethesda getting acquired by Microsoft is a good thing overall for Bethesda because it allows its games to potentially reach even more people thanks to Game Pass. "Honestly, we always want as many people as possible to play the games our developers make," he said. "When you put it into Game Pass, and you see a game like Prey or Dishonored or Wolfenstein, or Quake, people go back and play that stuff a lot. It's not just 30 [Bethesda] games, but most of them are terrible. There are so many Game of the Year award winners in what we added to Game Pass. It's remarkable, not just in the quantity, but the quality."
The latest big addition to Game Pass was Double Fine's Psychonauts 2, which came out on August 25. Later in the year, Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite will also come to Game Pass.