Revenue from Xbox Game Pass has barely grown in 2 years, explaining Microsoft's studio closures

Revenue from gaming subscriptions has reportedly barely increased in the last two years in the US, which might help paint a clearer picture around Microsoft's recent studio closures.

[purple101]

"prioritizing high-impact titles" but there was just an article from Forbes 2 mins ago, saying they are concentrating on smaller titles

[VersusDMC]

That was just Forbes trying to pass off some of the blame of the layoffs to a AAA industry wide issue as opposed to blaming Microsoft entirely.

They like to bring nuance and possible acceptable theories when it comes to Microsoft like claiming xbox "won" the 2023 game awards.

[Ra3030]

I believe Forbes is writing articles about what Microsoft is paying then to write or Microsoft is writing the article and Forbes attaches a name to the article and then they produce it. Either way its all BS as is\was most things ever written about Microsoft Xbox......all BS to paint Microsoft Xbox in a better more positive light.

[Yi-Long]

If you look at these high-impact games for MS/Xbox these past few years, many/most of them have failed to actually make any kind of 'high-impac't on launch, while a game like HiFI Rush DID actually accomplish quite an impact upon release, at least critically and with those who played and enjoyed it ...

Forza Horizon 5 had its bugs, Halo Infinite was kinda met with collective shrugs when certain modes were still missing at launch, and Forza Motorsport and its always online career-mode feels severly lacking in SP content compared to earlier games in the series, while the track-selection is limited and quite boring/predictable (with many fan-favourite fictional tracks completely missing). All this after many years of hype and boasting.

[Petebloodyonion]

" Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty sent an email to staff, seen by IGN, explaining that the studio closures allowed the mega corporation to focus on "prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games."

Pretty sure that what's I have been saying regarding how the industry operates and how this thinking from all companies will kill innovation and force more of the same COD, Spiderman, Forza, Fifa, REMASTERS, Assassin's Creed we have been feds for the past 10 years+

But I guess I should believe MS and Sony when they say they are invested in creating new Ips and ideas.

[Chevalier]

Sure you probably believed that Gamepass was sustainable and profitable when we suggested otherwise. Sorry we told you so.

Pretty sure every said launching on Gamepass was great for new IP? How many times do you guys need to be proven wrong again?

[Petebloodyonion]

Care to tell me what Gamepass has to do with my comment?
Care to tell me what Gamepass has to do with Square saying they will refocus on CORE IP and AAA games?
Care to tell me what Gamepass has to do with EA stoping EA original and refocusing on core ips like Battlefield and Sports titles?
Care to tell what Gamepass has to do with Ubisoft: strategic focus on the biggest Brand?
Care to tell what Gamepass has to do with Playstation shutting down VR studios?

But I'm impressed how YOU TOLD me so when you have been championing forever for Xbox as no games or
we don't want Game Pass filler like Pentiment, Grounded, ORI, Hi-Fi Rush, Flight sim. As Dusk Fall
Well congrats you won
More of EA Battlefield and sports game versus games like It takes two and Lost in Random
More of Microsoft COD, Diablo, Spidermman (oups I meant Blade) Fallout, versus games like HiFi Rush
More of Playstation's Batman games (sorry meant Spiderman-man Wolverine) and Ubisoft formula instead of VR games and games like Dreams and Concrete Genie.

but let me guess Game Pass is to blame.

[RNTody]

Um, dude, Spider-Man was a brand new game from Sony in 2018. Wolverine is a brand new game. Ghost of Tsushima, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, God of War 2018...Naughty Dog is working on a new IP as we speak, as is Media Molecule.

What the hell are you talking about, Sony is still creating new IPs???

[Skuletor]

God of War doesn't belong on that list, lol Spider-Man and Wolverine games are nothing new to gaming either

[RNTody]

Skuletor, God of War reinvented the entire game from its predecessors and was a bold risk for an established franchise. It could have backfired. It absolutely counts.

The other two, I'm not going to respond to stupidity or strawman comments.

[Skuletor]

A soft reboot of an existing IP and games based on comic book IPs older than PlayStation itself, yeah none of those count as new IPs.

There's a long list of games with Spider-Man and Wolverine before 2018, hardly new Game IP's by any stretch of the imagination.

[RNTody]

Wow, people like you do exist.

Okay, so with that logic Hogwarts Legacy is not a new IP or new game. It doesn't count because Harry Potter has been around for years and the IP exists. Sony shouldn't waste time with these brand new games of high quality because they don't count as new projects.

Don't be disingenuous and play semantics with the usage of new IP to detract from quality NEW games. You know full well what I meant in my comment. "Marvel's Spider-Man" is a completely new and unique game and has absolutely nothing to do with Activision, Beenox, or any other previous Spider-Man titles. It's a brand new game from the ground-up. If you want to be ridiculous, then sure, the "Spider-Man" intellectual property exists and Sony didn't create Spider-Man. Well done, you win?

Nothing in my comment is untrue, except perhaps some things I left open-ended to interpretation. Sony is still making brand new games AND new IP and new ideas. Death Stranding, Dreams and Horizon are three more for you if you need some help.

Fact remains, Sony is still investing in both new games and new IPs, so Pete's comment is factually incorrect and you're wasting time with semantics to detract from the point.

[Skuletor]

A new game and a new IP aren't the same thing, so your Hogwart's Legacy comment is moot. Maybe you could have added games like Returnal to your list of new IP, instead of trying to pad it with stuff like God of War (2018). Why are you bringing up last gen games in a discussion of new IP now anyway? Not exactly new now are they?and I've already played those three years ago.

[RNTody]

Okay, I'm talking to a moron or a troll so let me dumb it down to get on your level of conversation.

Pete's initial comment implied that Sony are not investing in new IP AND new ideas. He mentioned two things here, new intellectual property and new ideas.

New IP - new intellectual property, fresh new title that has not existed before anywhere else
New game - brand new title like Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel's Spider-Man irrespective of whether the IP is established or not
New idea - something original

Now you can argue that "Marvel's Spider-Man" and "Hogwarts Legacy" did not previously exist as properties, but let's just agree they're not new IP, they're new games.

I then proceeded to point out that Pete is likely on crack because in the last 6 years, Sony has invested in BOTH new IP (Death Stranding, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, Returnal, Dreams, Naughty Dog new IP, etc.) AND new games (Marvel's Spider-Man, Wolverine, God of War, Horizon etc.) There are also new ideas with Dreams and Death Stranding.

I did not see it so important to the conversation that I had to carefully differentiate between new IP and new games. You then decided semantics was very important and went on to waste all of our lives.

The point of my comment was that Pete was factually incorrect. And so were you. You basically said God of War, Spider-Man and Wolverine don't count because the IPs exist. Which means Hogwarts Legacy and Batman Arkham don't count either. I pointed out that God of War is such a departure from its predecessors that it's effectively a completely new game. It's a creative idea that should be applauded. Your argument is "lol sorry." Having some shitty licensed game does not compare to the quality of Marvel Spider-Man, which should be applauded as a new game. Your argument is "lol Spider-Man games exist."

If you read my comments again, I cover both new IP and new games. I say that God of War, Spider-Man and Wolverine count as new games or new ideas or whatever.

So we've wasted each other's time confirming that Sony is still making A) brand new games and B) new IP.

What do you still have to argue with? Shifting the goal posts to "last gen" changes little about the fact that over the last 6 years, in the present and going forward, Sony continues to invest in new IP and new games.

[Skuletor]

To put things as simple as possible for you, Pete had a point mentioning Insominiac's Spider-Man, since it's already had a spin-off, a sequel, a remaster, a planned Venom spin-off and a third entry planned, not to mention that cancelled multiplayer game.

[RNTody]

To put things as simply as possible for you, Sony is still investing in both new IP and new games. Therefore Pete's conclusion, which I was responding to, is factually incorrect.

If you now wish to discuss Insomniac, it was made clear after the first game that they are building a Marvel gameverse.

Dropping a game completely after phenomenal success is stupid for business if your entire fanbase wants more of it and care is taken to make quality, passionate releases rather than cash grabs.

God of War is proof positive, the series has yet to produce a single bad game and it has now elevated itself beyond what came before.

If the quality of Insomniac's games drop substantially and they produce phone-it-in titles, I'll be the first in line to call it out and stop buying.

So far, I have nothing to worry about.

What else is on your mind? I'll follow you wherever you take the goalposts.

[Skuletor]

Pete mentioned new IPs, you're the one that moved the goalpost to include new games. Spider-Man, Horizon (2 games, a VR spinoff and a third game in development) can hardly be called new IP as this point. God of War: Betrayal isn't anything special but I doubt you've played that and you trying to say God of War (2018) absolutely counts as a new IP is hilarious. :)

[RNTody]

You absolute illiterate twit. I never stated God of War is a new IP or counts as a new IP. I said it's effectively a new game given how vastly different it is from its predecessors, it should be applauded creatively as a new idea. It's not just "another God of War."

I also defined in Grade 1 English the difference between a new IP and new game and proved that Sony is doing BOTH. I have long since clarified my position.

If you are too intellectually challenged or dishonest to have this conversation, why do you persist?

By the way:
Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)
Death Stranding (2019)
Days Gone (2019)
Dreams (2020)
Ghost of Tsushima (2020)
Returnal (2021)
Rise of the Ronin (2024)
Stellar Blade (2024)
Naughty Dog new IP (future)
Media Molecule new IP (future)

I have removed any mention of new games like God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, Wolverine etc. to suit your delicate preferences, and the above is ONLY a list of new IP.

That is Sony's new IP in the last six and a half years and crossing over to this gen and going forward.

Therefore, my comment, "Sony is still creating new IPs???" is a simple fact.

I initially believed you were a troll but I actually think you're just intellectually dishonest and have a serious comprehension problem that should have been addressed in remedial class.

[Skuletor]

Summary

Responding to the question of where are the new IPs from Microsoft and Sony, you ignored Microsoft, showing your obvious Playstation bias, mentioned several games from the last generation, some already having several entries in the franchise by now, forgot Returnal, claimed God of War 2018 absolutely counts as a new IP, then pretended you didn't, claimed I was moving goalposts after you had already moved the goalpost from new ip to just new games, completely ignored several Playstation funded projects such as the Chinese and Indian Hero Project games currently in development, got upset and then called me a twit, a moron, intellectually dishonest and someone with comprehension problems that should have been addressed in remedial class. Anything you'd like to add? XD

An incomplete list of new IP on or coming to the PS5, including some console exclusives that are on PC and games that were cross-gen.

DestructionAllStars
Marvel's Wolverine
Quantum Error
Rise of Ronin
Stellar Blade
Returnal
Forspoken
Fairgame$
Concord
Sword of the Sea
Phantom Blade 0
Goodbye Volcano High
Ultros
Foamstars

Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo were timed exclusives and new IPs

There's the copious amounts of games under Playstation's Hero Projects, such as Lost Soul Aside and AWAKEN - Astral Blade, that I'm looking forward to.

Nice chat, lol. Enjoy the rest of your weekend : D

[RNTody]

Definitely, I'd like to add that you're the most foolish person I've engaged with on N4G, that includes Obscure Observer. But you'd make an excellent politician and for that I applaud you.

[Skuletor]

Idk, I mean, it's hard to take you seriously when you're calling last generation games like Horizon, Marvel's Spider-Man and God of War (2018) new IP and ideas, when they all have sequels and spinoffs now, even the reimagined God of War can't be called new, since it has a sequel now too. If I asked someone about what some of the new games are, I wouldn't expect them to tell me a game from 7 years ago on a previous console, that has a sequel and a VR spinoff is one of them.

I find this mildly amusing, you're probably the foolish one here for continuing to respond. It's not like there's a shortage of new IP and ideas out and in development for the PS5. I wasn't disputing Playstation having new IP, just your choices to represent that, lol.

[Petebloodyonion]

You're welcome to tell me what's so innovative about Spiderman vs the 3 Batman we got before or any Spiderman before developed by Activision.
You can tell what's so innovative with Horzion, Spiderman, Ghost, Daysgone, and Deathstranding vs the myriad AAA world games from Ubisoft where you clear a tower (sorry a radar signal here) to see the map, you make tons of little checkpoints on a map to clear useless sidequests like finding 100 pictures, posters, riddlers trophies,

But hey congrats! More of the same is coming in the future starting with a remaster of Horizon Zero Dawn instead of games like Dream and Concrete Genie or a VR game
And I don't recall Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade being made Sony or innovative but at leat they are indeed a new IP.

[Skuletor]

@Petebloodyonion
They've already given up. Despite your comment being a direct reply to theirs, which would have given them a notification, they've made 4 more comments on other articles and chosen to ignore this one. It's too bad because i was going to link my PSN profile trophies to show my Marvel's Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War (2018) platinum trophies, along with trophies for several other Playstation games from a generation ago , that they tried to educate me on their existence (older gen, older games, older IP lol).
https://psnprofiles.com/Fre...

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

But GamePaas is sustainable, I was told.

[InUrFoxHole]

Did you read?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Gamepass is good for the industry and sustainable business/s. 🤣🤣

[Hofstaderman]

Revenue doesnt even equal to profit. A child could point out that GamePass is not sustainable.

[badz149]

that's revenue. so...it's a;so safe to assume that they made losses

[badz149]

that's revenue. so...it's also safe to assume that they made lossesl

[Millatron]

Uneducated drivel, here's your 2024 Gamepass subscriber numbers
https://www.theverge.com/20...

Gamepass brings in $230 million dollars a month 2.76 billion dollars a year. This article is terribly written and misinformed. Gamepass is a moneymaker and then some.

[RNTody]

Thanks, so it will take 40 years to recoup the Activision and Bethesda acquisition costs....before you take into account all the costs to actually run the service, pay developers and publishers for putting their games on it, maintain licensing, advertise the service, invest in the service to grow its appeal, maintain and develop the service, oh and actually pay all the costs of running the developers they acquired unless they consolidate and axe the studios, but that wouldn't happen right? I'm sure Ninja Theory is safe.

Game Pass is nothing more than a passive revenue stream for Microsoft and an excuse not to create games because they offer "value", but it's a fact that Game Pass has not grown in the way MS expected and is certainly not going to.

[The_Hooligan]

Lol, don't waste your time with some of the ppl on here because they have no idea about the difference between revenue and profit.

[VersusDMC]

Here is some estimate numbers from email leaks to know that 230 million is really not that much...more than half is going to the new monthly games.

https://www.gamesindustry.b...

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: $35 million
Dying Light 2: $50 million
City Skylines 2: Unknown
Red Dead Redemption 2: $5 million per month
Dragon Ball: The Breakers: $20 million
Just Dance: $5 million
Let's Sing ABBA: $5 million
Return to Monkey Island: $5 million
Wreckfest 2: $10-$14 million
Baldur's Gate 3: $5 million
Gotham Knights: $50 million
Assassin's Creed Mirage: $100 million
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League: $250 million
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: $300 million
Mortal Kombat 1: $250 million
Grand Theft Auto 5: $12-15 million per month
Blood Runner: $5 million
Net Crisis Glitch Busters: $5 million

[RNTody]

@The_Hooligan Hah, all we can do is try, and hope that somehow we find the right combination of words in the English language to help educate someone, futile as it may be. Yup, hard to argue with people who think if you sell a burger for $10 you've made $10 profit as if the burger materialised out of mid-air and didn't cost a cent to produce.

[andy85]

And how much does it take out? It's a moneymaker and a bigger money spender.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I remember this kid telling me PlayStation made the most money in the PS3 generation because it costs $600 each, which was obviously higher than the others. Of course, the dummy didn't realize it costs Sony to actually make every PS3, and was selling them at a loss. Y'all would probably be friends.

[Chevalier]

Since your so in the know how much is the cost against that revenue? Oh right you have NO idea what the cost of it is. You're believing Xbox/MS who won't even confirm their numbers any more? Lol. Idiotic.

[SimpleDad]

Listen people... when you have $20 on your digital store... and you browse around what to buy... instead of going into indie game section and new releases... you prioritize your money and buy Fallout for $5, Skyrim for $9 and Assassins Creed Black Flag for $6.

Well, you did nothing wrong... but that reflects the business decisions that these Xbox and... PS btw are making.
Don't forget Sony closed couple of them including my favorite Japan Studios.

So... IDK, I'm not that shocked.
Hi Fi rush surprised me, but then again going to PSn, maybe it didn't surprised me at all.

[Chevalier]

@SimpleDad

Aptly named! Simple brain and thinking in a nutshell!

[jwillj2k4]

Lies. Phil said gamepass is profitable. He never lies.

[Chocoburger]

This is what happens when you bet your future on a subscription service. There is nothing wrong with the tradition of 'blades & razors' that Nintendo started back in the mid 80's, MS should have never abandoned that business model to focus on subscriptions.

[senorfartcushion]

But there is still revenue, yes?

[rakentaja]

How to grow something with 0% exclusivity. PC parts are the lowest they've been in years...everything is so cheap and removes any limitations you have...fps...resolution...mous e/keyboard support...probably a lot of friends are on PC... Game Pass is also on PC...Kinect is dead (it wasn't that important anyway). All the games are released on PC...etc, etc, etc. Microsoft is definitely not scratching their heads right now and wondering what is wrong with Xbox, because they have done absolutely everything to destroy the Xbox brand (let's say to make it uninteresting).

The only argument in favor of the Xbox is that you might save a few hundred dollars (in the long run). WTF :D
but in return gives you all the limitations mentioned above.
That's it...I'm not kidding. Go Xbox. Xbox forever.
I'm Xbot and I answered like this.

[anast]

It's a service that's just average.