Remember original Xbox team core member Ed Fries? He has some things to say about today’s Xbox and its Xbox Game Pass game subscription service.

Speaking as part of a wider interview with video podcast Xbox Expansion Pass, Fries was asked about the current Xbox team and company. He didn’t give a direct answer, but he did say he was “scared” of the impact Xbox Game Pass could have if it becomes dominant like how Spotify is with the music industry.

“The one thing that they’re doing that makes me nervous is Game Pass. Game Pass scares me because there’s a somewhat analogous thing called Spotify that was created for the music business.

When Spotify took off it destroyed the music business, it literally cut the annual revenue of the music business in half. It’s made it so people just don’t buy songs anymore.

People don’t buy songs on iPhone for example, because why would you? They’re all on your subscription service app. Apple’s said they’re going to take away buying songs because no one’s buying them any more.

So we have to be careful we don’t create the same system in the game business. These markets are more fragile than people realise. I saw the games industry destroy itself in the early 80s. I saw the educational software business destroy itself in the mid-90s… they literally destroyed a multi-billion dollar market in a few years. So Game Pass makes me nervous. As a customer, I love it. I love Spotify as a customer: I have all the songs I’d ever want… it’s a great deal as a customer. But it isn’t necessarily great for the industry.”

He also added despite all this, it’s possible for game developers to embrace the subscription platform.

“At some point it tipped and everything had to be [on Spotify]. The percentage of all games that are on Game Pass is still tiny, and there are a lot of games. 200 games a week come out on Steam and more than that come out on mobile.”

Of course, one can argue that the Spotify analogy might not be accurate. Piracy was the big issue with the music industry, with Spotify actually being a better service and competitor to piracy, which then helped a lot of artists have their music heard through the service.

In any case, Xbox Game Pass is not going away anytime soon, with even its competitor Sony pulling off their own subscription service with the revamped PS Plus. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that Xbox Game Pass subscribers play 40% more games and spend 50% more than non-members.