Latest news with #XboxGamePass
Time of India
5 days ago
- Time of India
How hackers may have ‘forced' Microsoft-owned Activision to remove PC version of this Call of Duty game
Microsoft-owned game developer Activision has taken down the PC version of Call of Duty: WWII from the Microsoft Store . Last week, Activision took to the social media platform X (earlier Twitter) to announce that it was bringing the 2017 first-person shooter offline to investigate "reports of an issue," without initially specifying the problem. This version of the game had recently launched and was also available through Microsoft's gaming subscription service, Xbox Game Pass . According to a report by TechCrunch, this move came after hackers exploited a flaw that led to several players' computers being compromised. The report cited a person (who remained anonymous) with knowledge of Activision's response to claim that the company took the game offline due to ongoing hacks and is currently working on a fix. How Call of Duty WWII players were affected by this hacking Multiple players took to social media to report being hacked while playing the game. However, no direct connection between the incidents had been confirmed until now. In a post shared on X, a user wrote: 'I JUST GOT HACKED PLAYING WW2! EVERYONE DO NOT PLAY WW2 ON GAMEPASS!' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Brain tumor has left my son feeling miserable; please help! Donate For Health Donate Now Undo Meanwhile, a Reddit user wrote, 'The game is not safe to play on PC right now, there's an RCE exploit,' last week. The user referred to a type of security flaw known as remote code execution, which enables hackers to install malware that can effectively take control of the victim's device. As per the report, two sources familiar with the matter has noted that the game's publisher removed only the Microsoft Store and Game Pass versions of Call of Duty : WWII, as these editions were different from the Steam release and contained an outdated vulnerability that had already been patched in other versions of the game. Over the past two years, Activision has faced multiple hacking incidents, including a November 2024 exploit that misused the anti-cheat system to ban legitimate players, and earlier attacks involving infostealer malware. In 2023, a worm exploited an old unpatched bug in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. While some gaming companies have strengthened their cybersecurity and anti-cheat efforts, Activision has undergone several rounds of layoffs, impacting its cybersecurity teams. What Is Artificial Intelligence? Explained Simply With Real-Life Examples
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Veteran Game Developer Calls Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox Game Pass ‘Unsustainable'
Microsoft (MSFT) may be putting a billion dollars a year into Xbox Game Pass, but one veteran game developer believes the model is 'unsustainable.' WolfEye Studios founder Raphaël Colantonio said as much in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Colantonio is also a founder and former president of Arkane Studios, which was acquired by Microsoft in its 2021 acquisition of Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media. Don't Miss TipRanks' Half-Year Sale Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. Colantonio stressed that Xbox Game Pass has damaged the video game industry over the last decade and said it has done so due to Microsoft's near-infinite money it can pump into the service. He said the model can't 'co-exist with other models, they'll either kill everyone else, or give up.' Colantonio's post about Xbox Game Pass stirred up other developers who were critical of the model, including one from Larian Studios, the developer of Baldur's Gate 3 and the Divinity series. Publishing Director Michael Douse said Microsoft's infinite money plan never made sense. Microsoft Stock Movement and Analyst Updates Microsoft stock was down 0.55% on Tuesday, but is still up 17.89% year-to-date and 8.31% over the past 12 months. While criticism of Xbox Game Pass wasn't welcomed by shareholders, it's important to remember that Xbox is only a small part of Microsoft's business. Even so, the company likely won't want to lose money on Game Pass forever. If that happens for too long, it could turn investors against leadership. Michael Briest reiterated a Buy rating and $500 price target yesterday, only suggesting a 1% upside for the shares. Is Microsoft Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold? Turning to Wall Street, the analysts' consensus rating for Microsoft is Strong Buy, based on 30 Buy and four Hold ratings over the past three months. With that comes an average MSFT stock price target of $524.86, representing a potential 6.03% upside for the shares.
India Today
5 days ago
- India Today
Call of Duty title pulled from Microsoft Store after hackers exploit game to hijack PCs
Call of Duty: WWII has been taken off the Microsoft Store after several PC players reported a major security problem during online matches. According to many gamers, hackers were able to take control of their computers while they were playing the game. This issue started just days after the 2017 Call of Duty title was added to Xbox Game Pass on June 30. By July 5, the official Call of Duty updates account confirmed that the PC version had been removed from the store while they look into the makes this more serious is that players have shared videos showing what actually happened. In one clip, the game suddenly froze, and a command window opened by itself, followed by a message from the hacker saying they had taken over the system. Some players even said their computers shut down by force, while others had their desktop wallpapers changed to inappropriate images. This kind of hack is known as a remote code execution (RCE) attack, where someone can run commands on your PC without needing to be near believe the problem is linked to how older Call of Duty games work online. Instead of using dedicated servers, which are more secure, the game uses peer-to-peer (P2P) networking. That means one player's computer becomes the host of the match, making it easier for hackers to target others in the same session. This setup may save costs for the developers, but it also opens the door to serious risks, especially in games with known weaknesses. Players in the Call of Duty community have often warned others to stay away from older titles on PC for this very reason. And while hacking in multiplayer games isn't new, this time it goes beyond cheating — it's about taking control of someone's entire of now, there's no word on when Call of Duty: WWII will return to the Microsoft Store or what steps are being taken to fix the issue. Activision has not confirmed whether other versions of the game, like the one on Steam, are also there's an official update, it's best to avoid launching the game on PC, especially if you're using Game Pass or the Microsoft Store version. Players are advised to keep an eye on the official Activision channels for any new announcements.- Ends
Forbes
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why It Does Matter If Xbox Game Pass Is Profitable Or Not
Halo There have been a slew of stories based around Xbox Game Pass over the last week, debating its effect on publishers, its profitability and other issues. That last point came up yesterday when reporter Chris Dring said that Microsoft's claim that Xbox Game Pass was only profitable when you took out first-party considerations, as he was told 'no first-party costs are included' by Xbox. But then he walked that back, as sources reached out to him to say actually no, that's wrong. 'When you include lost revenue associated with first-party party games (not just unit sales, but microtransactions), Game Pass is still profitable,' he said. This is, however, still compounded by the fact that this doesn't include development costs for those games. I've seen some people ask why this debate matters at all, and why the profitability of Game Pass for Microsoft affects actual players. I think it does matter in a few ways, and it's not about whether we're emotionally invested in Microsoft's pocketbook. First of all, obviously if you like Game Pass and what it offers, you do not want Game Pass to go away. If it's badly underwater, Microsoft may decide to discontinue it and shift tactics for yet another pivot, and then you've lost a service you enjoy. If you don't like Xbox Game Pass, not for dumb console war reasons, but in terms of what it represents in the industry, it being profitable for Microsoft poses issues. There is a 'game purchases as service' nature to it that some may not enjoy infecting gaming like it does television and movies now. It also reinforces a lack of ownership that plagues many games now with things added or subtracted. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Game Pass There are now larger questions about Game Pass within Microsoft itself. A few years ago, there were questions about whether Microsoft would continue investing in Xbox at all. Clearly, it hasn't shut down, but with recent large-scale layoffs and game cancellations, there are fears that things are moving in that direction. If Xbox Game Pass is either not profitable or actually unprofitable for a megacorp that is now laser-focused on building AI, it's easy to see how a low-margin arm of the company may be better served as billions thrown into AI tech. That allegedly is what just happened with these recent layoffs and closures, with that saved money headed toward AI. If that happens you just…lose Xbox. The brand, the consoles, the games, all of it. But if Game Pass, the central product of Xbox now, actually is printing significant money, that makes it less likely. Whether Game Pass succeeds or not in the long term affects how gamers spend their money, how they access their games now and in the future, and even the very existence of Xbox itself, and the games associated with it. What once seemed far-fetched seems like more of a possibility, even if Xbox maintains it's not going anywhere. But this is a company that just months or days had executives that were smiling and nodding about promising upcoming games, and now those have been shelved as of last week. So who knows what happens from here, but we know it heavily relies on the success or failure of Game Pass. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy
Time of India
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
How Xbox's Game Pass policies is signalling the doom for the AAA industry
(Image via Getty Images) Microsoft Xbox Game Pass provides gamers with unprecedented access to hundreds of titles for a very minimal monthly fee. Yet beneath its player-friendly model, as suggested and warned by industry leaders, there's a gathering storm. This storm as per them, threatens blockbuster game development's very foundation. Be it unsustainable developer payout or cannibalising sales, Xbox Game Pass, as per reports, is setting a dangerous precedent. The subscription giant and its strategy, as argued, are quietly undermining the AAA ecosystem's economic pillars, forcing a reckoning that the industry might not survive without being unscathed. Game Pass policies have an unsustainable core At the heart of this entire crisis is Game Pass's fundamental economics. As argued by Industry veterans, Microsoft leverages vast resources for subsidizing services. It creates an artificially lower price point. The model, as contended by critics, distorts market value—artificial market conditions created with traditional sales struggling to compete. Xbox Dev BLASTS Xbox Game Pass: 'This Model DESTROYS Studios' Ex-founder of Arkane Studios, Raphael Colantonio, bluntly labelled Game Pass as unsustainable. As per his assertions, it 'progressively harmed' the gaming industry for over a decade now, and it survives on corporate subsidies instead of genuine value. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Our one of a kind Patented Cold Water Extraction Process Superior Ginseng Undo He further added that it's propped by Microsoft's 'infinite money'. It is feared that Microsoft will persist until all alternative business models are crushed. It will leave all developers with a very limited choice. Xbox Game Pass for Developers Acts as Double-Edged Sword Microsoft's subscription model promises guaranteed payouts and exposure for developers. But as revealed, Game Pass instead devalues games, conditioning players to expect content for just 'free' under their subscription. Probably this was the reason why some major AAA titles, including Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Civilisation VII, avoided Xbox Play Anywhere, which is meant to unify the platform. Even Towerborne, the Xbox-published game, chose to launch its early access on Steam and not Xbox. That's a sign of some internal doubts about the health of the Xbox platform. While smaller studios benefit from all upfront payments, AAA developers face a huge dilemma. If some major titles launch on Game Pass, the standalone sales of the game plummet. Despite Microsoft compensating them, in the long term, this model discourages purchases made at full price. It shrinks revenue streams while funding big-budget games. It even fails to attract Indies or AAA developers. Cannibalized sales create a devastating impact To understand the above-said better, when a game makes its debut on Game Pass, players do not need to buy it outright. While Microsoft does pay off developers for offsetting losses, it doesn't replace the traditional sales value that could have been otherwise generated. As said, or rather warned by Michael Douse, Larian Studios' publishing director, 'infinite money doesn't make sense forever.' The AAA Gaming Industry Just Got Destroyed From The Inside With evidence suggesting that Game Pass cannibalizes traditional sales, particularly on the Xbox platform, there are many who are now raising their voices against it. As per Industry journalist Christopher Dring, games that are launched on Game Pass can easily be expected to lose around 80% of the expected Xbox premium sales. Taking an example of Starfield, its inclusion within Game Pass boosted subscriber members. However, it likely slashed its direct sales. Even Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle underperformed in their full-priced Xbox sales. While Microsoft might not have directly blamed it on Game Pass, the correlation here is just undeniable. Even players start to gravitate to 'free' access through subscription and bypass outright purchases. Such correlation is not coincidental, but it is structural. When any major release lands on the Xbox Game Pass, buying it becomes redundant. Now, if this starts to become a new norm, studios, especially AAA studios, might struggle to justify massive budgets. This will lead to a few AAA risks and a high reliance on Microsoft's funding. Xbox Game Pass offers a false lifeline to smaller studios Proponents quite often highlight that Game Pass does act as a boon to smaller developers and all the risky new IPs. Douse acknowledges this potential. As noted by him, it could derisk those smaller teams' launch, which face uncertain markets, but what exactly would happen when all the money runs out? Is Xbox Game Pass BAD for Developers? The current model is reliant on continuous and massive investments made by Microsoft to secure content. However, if funding shifts or slows down, the safety net for smaller studios would vanish overnight. It would leave them exposed, without any security for the creative risks. Game Pass: Destroying Gaming? Indie Devs Reveal Shocking Truth! But wait, there's more beyond money running out. Game Pass, which initially was praised to help Indie games reach a wide audience, isn't the same anymore. With growing services, smaller titles are at higher risk of getting buried within an oversaturated catalogue. Unlike Steam, where the games remain purchasable quite indefinitely, Game Pass keeps rotating titles in and out. It leaves developers scrambling for needed visibility. Even some successful indies are now facing a catch-22—Microsoft's short-term payouts vs. Long-term sustainability. If the players do not buy outside the subscriptions, Indies would lose leverage over pricing and discoverability at the same time. Player Advantage vs Developer Disadvantage Why Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is Still the Best Deal For the players, Game Pass is quite an undeniably phenomenal deal. It gives instant access to a vast library that includes all major releases. With day-one access to the content, there's an incredible value for players. It democratizes gaming. It makes AAA experiences affordable for those who might not otherwise participate in them. But what about AAA studios? They get forced to profit outside the subscriptions, and for it, they would either cut budgets or shift to live-service models, to sustain revenue. Is XBOX Game Pass Bad for Developers? For developers, especially those who are behind those large-budgeted AAA games, the entire picture is more grim. Xbox Game Pass subscription model devalues individual titles. Players who are accustomed to the lower monthly fee just become resistant to paying $70 for a purchase. This creates a shift in revenue stream from direct sales to those opaque subscription payouts as per engagement metrics. It creates huge financial uncertainty that is lethal for the AAA industry, especially for studios that invest $200M+ in projects. It is due to this that Colantonio has suggested Game Pass to keep its focus on back-catalogue titles and not day-one releases. It will help preserve sales for the newer games while still continuing to offer value. But will Game Pass do so? Only time can tell about it. Escalating situation seeks balance before the bubble bursts The industry is not calling for the demise of Game Pass, but it wishes for a critical reassessment. Colantonio and many others have already suggested a sustainable path for it—Game Pass must primarily function as the back-catalogue service and not the day-one AAA release platform. It will help preserve the value proposition for the players. It will also protect the economic model, which is required to fund ambitious and new projects. The current trajectory that's been fueled by deep pockets of Microsoft risks creating a market where only subscription giants could survive. Without bringing in an urgent policy adjustment or a fundamental shift within the Game Pass model, the ability to fund next-generation, groundbreaking AAA experiences faces existential peril. So, in short, the time for a balance is right now. What will the AAA industry be without this balance? WILL XBOX GAME PASS LAST? Pros & Cons of Microsoft's Game Pass The gaming industry today is at a crossroads. If the Game Pass continues to dominate, the world will see fewer big-budget single-player games, which will also be riskier without a direct sales line. There will also be more live-service and microtransactions models for offsetting lost revenue. Additionally, with increased consolidations of studios under Microsoft, competition will be reduced. The solution is therefore simple. There's a need for a balanced approach. Subscriptions must complement, instead of replacing, the traditional sales. Otherwise, Xbox Game Pass might accelerate the decline of AAA games, on which it relies. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
