@NEStalgia SaaS makes since in a corporate environment. I manage about 300+ users across two states. It is more efficient for my organization to use Office 365 licensing to ensure compliance (and keep everyone on the same version), than it is for me to spend time and resources to manage that. So I am not against it fully, but it is being applied where it shouldn't.

What Phil Spencer is saying is that people are subscribing to the service (keep in mind, they offered a cheap conversion for up to three years), but are not finding all the games they want so they are purchasing additional games not on the service which boosts overall sales. There are two things that will eventually end up happening, and I will use Netflix as the example.

First, if Netflix didn't constantly surprise people with new content then eventually they unsubscribe and have nothing to show for it. This was why Netflix constantly was pulling content and adding content, so there was always something "new" on their service monthly. It is a psychological method of keeping subscriptions, and is also why Disney used to vault movies. Game Passes have to do the same thing, so there will eventually be no guarantee that the game you love won't be "vaulted" to surprise you with later.

Second, once Netflix became huge it was only a matter of time before content providers thought they could remove the middleman and make more money. We are currently seeing the market fragment into little kingdoms that cost more and provide less. Eventually, the same will happen to gaming. Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Activision, and the rest will pull their content from each other and offer their own passes. We already see EA going down that road. So instead of being a value, consumers will have to pick "winners" or endlessly subscribe, unsubscribe from services. How long do think it will be before subscriptions require a contract agreement that includes length of time?

So we have subscribe and hope for the best (and have little to show for it at the end) and MTX, which ends up causing a segment of the population to underwrite games for everyone. Of the two, I think MTX is capable of being fixed. All it takes is a max cap on what you can spend in the game, and then you are allowing players to judge the value of the product. SaaS on the other hand puts all the bargaining power in the hands of the publisher and you are left to accept or decline.