The Wall Street Journal has published figures for Xbox Game Pass that Microsoft would have preferred to keep to itself.
The Wall Street Journal has published figures for Xbox Game Pass that Microsoft would have preferred to keep to itself. Around The service has 30 million users Accordingly, currently – after 34 million in 2024. That corresponds to a decline of almost 12 percent in less than two years. Microsoft has not published official subscriber numbers since 2024, which is hardly surprising given this development.
Xbox Game Pass misses its mark badly
When Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for around $69 billion in 2022, the company had to disclose internal documents as part of the approval process – including its own growth plans for Game Pass.
These provided for the service to scale to 77 million subscribers by 2026based on the model of large streaming platforms. Game Pass should become the central pillar of the Xbox business model. With the current figures, the service is around 47 million below this projection – a worrying performance.
The causes are known. Price increases for Game Pass deterred users, while at the same time Xbox console sales collapsed. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma admitted in an internal memo that a weak Game Pass had not adequately supported profits – thereby making the service partly responsible for the current wave of layoffs. In response, Microsoft has already lowered the price for Game Pass Ultimate and the PC tier again.
Xbox Game Pass in crisis
Microsoft still wants to continue investing in the service. According to reports, new third-party deals are said to have been paused for the time being, and Call of Duty titles will no longer be included in Game Pass as day one titles in the future – the service is therefore losing some important pillars.
Microsoft now has to carefully analyze whether the original goal of 77 million was completely unrealistic from the start or whether Game Pass has taken too many wrong turns in recent years – which doesn’t guarantee that the right conclusions will be drawn. Whether the recent price cut and Project Helix It remains to be seen that the new generation of consoles will bring the service back on track.