Xbox Game Pass subscribers jump 50 percent to 15 million in less than six months

It’s another sign that Microsoft’s Game Pass bet is starting to pay off.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

I went through the entire Game Pass PC catalog and there are right now around 90 games there I want to play. For me, Game Pass is absolutely fantastic. Especially since I play a game, finish it, and move to the next one. I don't care about replaying games.

[LordoftheCritics]

Im playing FF15 right now and started Gears Tactics. I would have never touched a tactics style game ever but wow Gears Tactics is sexy af.

@Felix_Argyle_Catbro
Totally, thats what I do lately as well. Play a game quick, move on. I like the new habit. I get to eat everything.

[Wikkid666]

I have a backlog of games and then add Game Pass on top of my games.... Game Anxiety

[itsmebryan]

I never understood the' Xbox has no games' rant. My backlog said different.

[Kurisu]

I'll be jumping on Game Pass when I've got a Series S. I'm looking forward to playing Alan Wake and Forza Horizon 4. I've never owned an Xbox so there are a lot of games that I'd like to try that I missed from only ever owning a PlayStation.

[CWheatley]

I'm in the same boat. The Series S is looking more and more like a great first Xbox console for me, as well as a fine counterpart to my PS5 and Switch.

As long as I have enough spare time between PS5 exclusives, Game Pass seems like a worthwhile investment.

Exciting times ahead.

[Sirk7x]

Alan Wake is basically a playable Stephen King novel. Fantastic game. And goddam, does it need a sequel.

[Gardenia]

It's because of Corona and people sitting at home for months. Things like PS Now, Netflix and Disney+ also have a huge increase in subscriptions lately.

[LordoftheCritics]

Nahhh it kicked off last year with Gears of War 5 and then Outer Worlds. That thing was on fire last winter. Was a great launch. Corona is a boost for every aspect of home entertainment. This is long run habit creation.

[northpaws]

I am just curious, how many month of subscription will you be paying to play all that 90 games.

[Truplaya]

I paid £1 to upgrade my Xbox live then it’s been free since then thanks to the rewards program

[waverider]

Nope, right now isnt great, because its the start of next gen and gamers want new games, but thats why microsoft made that huge deal. To have new stuff day one on gamepass. They must do this kind of buyout. Services need new games and thats hard at the start of a new gen. Maybe they will even get more studios.

[NeoGamer232]

Your comment makes zero sense.

The logic is essentially, that a new generation requires new games.

But, that logic is not followed even by a company like Sony who is putting new games on not only PS5 but also on PS4.

[waverider]

nope, when you get a service you want new games. That why you buy the service. Not to play old games. Something to show off your new console. What sony did is allow the 120 millions player to have acess to blockbuster games. Its impossible to all those gamers get a PS5..... this way they will make billions and allow to make more games. You get gamepass and without new games for your next gen console? That doesnt make sense. Getting more studios will get more games.

[NeoGamer232]

@waverider
I have been on gamepass since its inception. I already can't keep up with the new games it has that I want to play. All this will do is make my backlog even worse. LOL.

I won't drop my gamepass subscription anytime soon because it is providing me a ton of games and they are both quality and quantity. I will buy a next gen console when I think they are worth it. Right now whether you are a sony or MS or both fan I don't see these new consoles as worth it. I certainly won't buy a PS5 to play Demon Souls (which I played thru on PS3). And I won't buy a XB Series console because there aren't any real next gen games even with this acquisition.

[BillyG0AT]

I think you're just jaded and stuck in this repetetive fanboy cycle, like a lot of people on this website. There's hundreds of millions of gamers out in the world who do not feel the same way you do. Infact, the viewpoints of people like you are a massive minority.
Also, are you really gonna sit there online and tell a trillion dollar business how it should run itself? Come on now.

[waverider]

Nope. Just giving my opinion. Thats my viewpoint. Thats why Microsoft just got 15 millions. That why Microsoft just spent 7.5 billions. If things were going like they wanted, then they wouldnt spent 7.5 billions. Thats more the disney payed for marvel (4 billions). They already got more new 8 studios and even so they got more studios. Do you even know how much time will take for them to make 7.5 billions in profit?

[hulk_bash1987]

Gamepass is a great value, it gives gamers access to past/existing games they have not had a chance to play or even wish to revisit.

[Manic2014]

This is pretty interesting, 15 million subs = $225 million in monthly revenue (est) so far. If Gamepass is supported with the right content, support and stable growth + user retention - this will be a massive success.

Early signs point's it being incredible so far.

No wonder MS see value in investing $7.5 billion in Bethesda

[LordoftheCritics]

If 1 billion gave 1$, that would be epic as well. Thats why MS is going for reach as well. Biggest reach right now is phones and windows.

MS is now committing 100% into PC, XBOX and xcloud for that reason.

[waverider]

Nope, right now they arent making money. They already told that. They need much more subscription and all at 9.99. Right now thats not the reality because you could get at one bucks and many have use that. In the future when its only available at 9.99 and gets bigger, then they will start to make money. Right now they just want you to have gamepass and see how cool it is.

[Manic2014]

That's why i wrote (Est) - likely figure is around $130m to $160m my guess.

I think you mean they are not making any profit as of yet - this is obvious. Gamepass has only recently begun to grow. Like any service or product, it's an investment with profit to be generated over a long term.

Either or investment is based on projections and right now it's indicating to be a great success, hence the investment.

[CYALTR]

Everyone talks about the $1 subscriptions. You know that is an intro offer. When they first launched they were pretty loose with it because they were just looking to add users, but you can't stack them like you used to. My younger brother worked for Paypal as a start up. To get people to set up an account they gave you $5 in your account. You could transfer it to your bank, spend it online (very little e-commerce at the time) or actually keep it and earn interest!! Netflix did, and still does the same thing. My point is that offering a loss leader in order to attract clients is just part of client acquisition costs. I would be interested to know what their retention percentage is on their trial memberships and if they even include trials in their membership numbers.

Either way, they are putting big money behind it and have the ability to put more up if needed. It works for me, but I understand if it doesn't work for everyone. If you don't like it, don't buy it, but for me, it's worth the money.

[yomfweeee]

I'd bet you'd be hard pressed to find anyone really paying $15 a month. Microsoft is not making money off of GP currently, they said it themselves.

[Rocosaurus]

Very impressive!

[Father__Merrin]

theres a lof of $1 subs on that list

[Sitdown]

Yeah, we know that, and the article already stated that. But we get what you trying to do though.

[Father__Merrin]

theres many that dont in fact there willing to follow no matter what

[BillyG0AT]

That's all you've got, is it?

[ElementX]

The average consumer isn't reading articles about the 3 year $1 upgrade offer, they log on and see "try your first month for $1"

[Chris12]

How long do these $1 subs last for because the numbers go up and up and yet everyone is on a $1 sub.

Wonder when you will acknowledge MS are going great guns at the moment, both in GP and in acquisitions?

[CYALTR]

It's just like any other trial subscription. You give them your credit card info and if you don't cancel at the end of the month they renew you at regular price. I think the number of people who go through this whole routine every month are over blown. It is a hassle that some are willing to go through, and there are those (like myself) who stack specials when they are available but these are not $1 subs though, usually buy 2 months get one free. Im just don't think that most people who GamePass targets, ie: more casual gamers, are willing to go through the hassle of trying to stay on a trial sub long term

[franwex]

I’m one of those $1 sub.

But you see-I have potential of becoming a $15 one.

I’m tempted. There is great value with Game Pass. I prefer to buy my games, but I also like having a good selection available to me if I wanted to try something new.

I used to spend more money a month renting video games 20 years ago-then what I’m paying for Game Pass, and I can play all the games with Game Pass.

I have a good connection to the internet at home too. With X Cloud I may not even need to buy a series X. I could just stream the games.

[Elda]

I'll always buy physical to own.

[NeoGamer232]

And there is nothing stopping you from doing that.

[averagejoe26]

Yes, there is. The rise of subscriptions and not owning what you pay for.

Everyone buying into the subscription model is ruining it for everyone who wants to actually own what they pay for.

Soon, we won't have the option because too many suckers made subscription-to-rent models popular.

[NeoGamer232]

@averagejoe26
The only sucker is the person that needs to own something that that can subscribe to for much less.

So please describe how this model is ruining it for people that want to own what they pay for? Are you not allowed to do that now?

I can still buy CDs and Blu-Rays/DVDs even though there is Spotify and Netflix.... Why are games going to be any different?

[ssj27]

Nexflix is like going to eat to macdoa is cheap wrong bad. You realize this will push Microsoft to create unfinished games and add content to them little by little to grab you not only that but lower the quality to bring quantity and if there is quality it will be a very short experience like gears 5 was like 6hrs long game not even spiderman mm is 6hr long and the xbots are doing damage control

[NeoGamer232]

@ssj27
There are a ton of assumptions in your post.

First, there is no difference shipping a game piece by piece then shipping it every 2-3 years in a bundled plan of complete games. So, what difference does it make? If you have a problem with that, just play it when the "episodes" are complete.

Second, the business model is nothing about shipping a quality product. GamePass has been offered by MS since June 2017. During that time, quality of first party games has risen. First was Sea of Thieves and State of Decay... Low ratings and incomplete. But since then we saw Crackdown 3, low ratings but a full game (Yes, the cloud promise never panned out). Then there was Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 4. Neither game was low quality or incomplete. I played through Gears 5 and the campaign was about 14 hours for me. Forza Horizon 4 still have not fully completed. Then this year we have seen, Bleeding age (just a garbage game) and Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Minecraft Dungeons, Gears Tactics, Wasteland 3, and Flight Simulator. I would not dubb any of these games as incomplete. Bleeding Edge was not good but the rest were complete game and they are anywhere from decent to awesome. Yes, they shipped Grounded and it is a in their Game Preview program which means explicitly it is in incomplete.

But, the recent history of GamePass is neither incomplete nor poor quality generally.

You have to remember these games also sell at retail. So, they have to be saleable at retail as well.

[sampsonon]

this is bad for gaming. Cheap day 1 games incoming on GP. MS failed to sell high quality games early this gen so they gave up and decided instead of making 1 high end AAA game that could fail, they will make 3 games for the price of one to up the odds of finding a Fortnite success story.

[LordoftheCritics]

You must know something that 99% of the media world doesnt know.

So MS acquires a ridiculous amount of studios, announce some big titles, and then make a huge buyout today, so they can make cheap games??

[sampsonon]

Everyone knows. WHERE are the GAMES? Oh! I know "You just wait". As per usual.
Also, most are A and AA companies. Enjoy if that's what you're into.

[darthv72]

What are you on about Craig... er i mean sampson?

[Hellcat2020]

Gamepass saved me money from buying shit games and at the same time I played games I would have never bought and fell in love with them

[sampsonon]

I find it funny the way xbox gamers have fell in line. I remember all the hate and anger xbox gamers had when MS started bringing games to pc. Now they have been whooped into submission lol

[Chris12]

Show us where that happened? Why would Xbox gamers care if the games are on PC? Must try harder if that's all you got.

Shouldnt you be more worried about the lies Sony has spun you about next gen games, and how they are not willing to break down the console despite taking pre-orders?

[sampsonon]

They cared. You must be new here. Sony didn't say no games were going to ps4. They were asked about MS and games being on both gens entirely. They sad they believe in generations. Which means they won't be making games for both through the next gen, just the games that were already being made for the ps4.

"Wake up blimey fish"

[green]

I have been on this website for 13 years and there has not been any anger from the vast majority of Xbox fans in regards to games coming to PC. If any, it is the PS camp that have tried to downplay it as a terrible thing because now, they will all play the games on their super high-end PC's they claim to have, negating the need to own an Xbox.

[sampsonon]

False. Anyone that's been here since MS announce first party games going to pc day one knows that many in the xbox community hated the idea. It was ps gamers that rubbed it i n with salt .

[Challengerscatpack]

For $120 a year you get all of the newly released games, back log games, EA games, Bethesda games etc. $10 is peanuts, I play more games and more diverse games because of game pass.

[Fishy Fingers]

Got it for Gears 5 thinking thats a bargain as I'll get my fill within a month and cancel. Been subscribed ever since.

Just downloaded Plague a tale of innocence a few days ago. Would of never bought it as thought 'not my thing' but its fantastic, just one of many games I would of not tried.

Made me realise I like genres I'd probably have never entertained before.

[Challengerscatpack]

I did it for Gears as well and I’ve played a ton of games since! Even my wife downloaded a few and she is not a gamer lol

[Artemidorus]

It's sad times, likely to provide non full games with regular episodic and convincing people to keep paying for a non full experience for years.

[NeoGamer232]

And how many games are like this on GamePass?

I would rather have that then having to choose between endless grinding or microtransactions.

[StoneyYoshi]

He was speaking in regards to the future of GP. Kinda like how Halo Infinite will be a 10 year long strategy meaning you'll have the same Halo game with expansions for years instead of how it has been. Basically they are trying to do what Bungie did with Destiny.

[NeoGamer232]

@StoneyYoshi
So, what's the difference of releasing three games on the same game engine over X years or releasing chapter by chapter ongoing for X years?

Two different models to do the same thing.

[SamTheGamer]

1$ really helped them a lot to grow

[gamer9]

Duh, you gave me 33 months of game pass for ONE DOLLAR!

[CYALTR]

According to your explanation below you paid for 24 months of Live and then converted them to Ultimate when they offered a promo. That's not 33 months for a dollar. Still, it's a very good deal, one that MS was happy to make in order to start building a subscriber base. As I explained earlier in this thread this is a customer acquisition cost that most, if not all, subscription models to build an early base. You were smart enough to take advantage of this. I did something similar myself. Bet you can't get that offer now. They don't have to make it anymore. The business model is gaining traction on it's own now, as can be seen with the steadily increasing sub numbers.

So congrats on getting a good deal...and playing right into Microsoft's evil plans!!! LOL

[gamer9]

Thanks ha ha. Ya, i extended my xbox live first out to 33 months, then for 1 extra dollar converted all 33 months to ultimate which essentially added 33 months of game pass for me. blah blah blah. My Point was that if I had to pay the regular monthly fee for game pass - i'm not sure if i'd be paying that right now. I would only pay if there was a new full price game coming up so i could get it for cheap. So the numbers are definitely inflated due to the crazy promotions they have been offering.

[spambot0815]

the staging is strong today, too bad i can't be entertained with numbers... at least not to that point that i would spend money for that kind of entertainment but i can offer some clicks microsoft, wadda you say? ;-)

[Father__Merrin]

Does anyone know what the average subscription retention is?

[ocelot07]

But how many are the £1 a month subs? Not putting gamepass down its alright. Expecially if you do the £1 trick.

[gamer9]

I didn't get mine for $1/month, i got 33 months added to my xbox live for a 1 time cost of 1 dollar. So i'm paying around 3 cents per month for game pass for the next few years.

[ocelot07]

Not bad

[TheOtherMoon]

the acquisition of large studios, a large cloud server base to facility cloud gaming across cellphones (that works), a console(s), and PC gaming. Sony and its fanboys can talk consoles all they want. We are beyond that silly fight.

[Miraak82]

Of coarse .... COVID happened 6 month ago .... just saying

[aaronaton]

What I don't get about gamepass is:
If I was an MD at a top AAA developer, why would I choose my product to be released on gamepass day one instead of going to market across physical and digital traditional stores? The main money is to be made in sales, not from MS giving you a quantified 'cut'.

[Parasyte]

Not surprising. It’s a damn good value!

[Hawk198666]

How many of those are people making fake accounts and getting the £1 deal

[CYALTR]

I would bet not anywhere as many as you think. Just a cost of doing business for MS

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Not surprised as it’s a phenomenal offering.

[Stanjara]

Well we'll, how we like to talk numbers when the stars align.

[bankreception48]

MS as of now hasn't announced the price of it first party games. But it looks like they want to expand and stretch gamepass as much as possible by getting EA on board and buying Bethesda, essentially trying to get as much ppl on board

[anast]

All those subs coming from console users?