Football Manager boss challenges Jim Ryan’s claim that Xbox Game Pass is ‘value destructive’

The studio head of Football Manager developer Sports Interactive has disputed PlayStation boss Jim Ryan’s claim that being on Xbox Game Pass is “value destructive” to games.

Earlier this week Ryan appeared on a video deposition during Microsoft’s ongoing court case against the US Federal Trade Commission, which is seeking to block the Xbox maker’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

During the discussion, Ryan confirmed that he still believed comments he made in early 2022 that publishers “unanimously do not like Game Pass because it’s value destructive”.

However, in a statement to Eurogamer, Sports Interactive head Miles Jacobson says he disagrees with Ryan’s claim.

“Every studio is going to have different opinions on this, and different studios will have different data, because different games work well in different situations,” he said.

“For us, it’s nothing but positive on all three platforms,” he added, presumably referring to the fact that Football Manager 2023 is available on Game Pass on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

“We run quite a tight ship,” Jacobson went on, “and I like our studio to be profitable. Sega took a big gamble on us all those years ago, and their shareholders – however weird it might sound – should be rewarded for that. So we don’t tend to do deals that are bad for any parts of the business.”

Jacobson also told Eurogamer: “The simple fact is Game Pass and Apple Arcade have brought new people to the franchise that never played it before. I’m confident enough in our games to believe we will now have those consumers for a long time, whatever platforms we’re on.”

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PlayStation’s boss claims publishers ‘unanimously dislike’ Xbox Game Pass

Jim Ryan claims game firms believe Microsoft's subscription service is "value destructive"

He added: “Every studio has to make decisions themselves, but I don’t recognise some of the quotes that I see from other studios, and depositions. I don’t recognise that in our business. It’s all very sunny for us.”

Jacobson’s comments echo similar claims made last year by Ryu Ga Gotoku studio boss Masayoshi Yokoyama, who credited subscription services like Game Pass for the popularity of its Yazkua series in the west.

“Personally, I do think subscriptions like Game Pass, allowing people to play the previous games over the years, have contributed largely to the increase in audience,” he said.