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[Nydius]

So they announced a number above the best estimate from the insider? I'd call worthy of announcing. And probably they did because of that.

A meager 2M over the best estimate and now, it seems, that number is manipulated by counting “Game Pass Core” members. Which makes it even more concerning.

 

[adamsapple]

havoc00

get in her, boiiiiiii!

 

[dotnotbot]

What are the numbers for their competition?

47 million as of March 23

 

[zapper]

only 34? including gold numbers?

since 2022, when there were 25, subscribers have not increased, in theory they have decreased if the merger of services is counted

 

[nemiroff]

Neogaf just isn't a good forum for gamepass anything.

Well, Neogaf just isn't a good forum for anything Xbox, period. And I feel for those who give it an honest try. It seems utterly futile.

 

[reinking]

Well, Neogaf just isn't a good forum for anything Xbox, period. And I feel for those who give it an honest try. It seems utterly futile.

At least those that try get paid well....

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

only 34? including gold numbers?

since 2022, when there were 25, subscribers have not increased, in theory they have decreased if the merger of services is counted

Part of the reason why this number was kept off financials.

 

[Portugeezer]

If that's including Core, then the Xbox hardware numbers are truly low.

What are the numbers for their competition?

About 45 mil for base PS Plus, around 15 of which are extra/premium.

 

[zapper]

Part of the reason why this number was kept off financials.

yeah...
found the 34 million are obtained by adding the gold numbers

 

[nemiroff]

At least those that try get paid well....

Keep chasing those low hanging fruits.

 

[Sweden85]

Haha lol it includes the core pass?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So Xbox has 34M total subbers Sony's last reported subbers was somewhere in the high 40s. So Sony only has about 10-15M more subbers despite double the user base?

 

[ByWatterson]

Corny.... Including "core" into that count is the same misleading thing Sony did with its PS+ counts.

guess it should be expected.

Except Sony rebranded the premium product and counted it as more of the baseline product.

Microsoft rebranded the baseline as the premium.

 

[jm89]

So Xbox has 34M total subbers Sony's last reported subbers was somewhere in the high 40s. So Sony only has about 10-15M more subbers despite double the user base?

Why does that matter?

Sonys primary strategy for gaming is not reliant on pushing ps plus subs they aren't pushing nowhere near as hard, whilst Xbox it is fundemental.

Besides gamepass is available on pc, so userbase is much higher.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

So without core that is about 22.3m gamepass subs, isn't that a decrease from before?

 

[newtypepilot]

 

[SneakersSO]

Part of the reason why this number was kept off financials.

And why it was removed from Nadella's KPIs. At least the merging of Gold users into GP had the effect of letting them pretend that GP is doing better than it actually is.

All they gotta do now is find 66m more users in 3 years. No pressure!

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Starting to think this doesn't include Core. Bond said 34m Game Pass members would play Diablo 4. Unless it's coming to Core, I dunno.

 

[Mr Moose]

Starting to think this doesn't include Core. Bond said 34m Game Pass members would play Diablo 4. Unless it's coming to Core, I dunno.

 

[Gryllis]

Surely this doesn't include Core. From Xbox Wire:

'We’re happy to share that Diablo IV will be available to play by the 34 million Game Pass subscribers on both PC and Xbox consoles'.

I can't see Diablo 4 launching in GP Core. But also it's yet again very poor messaging from Xbox. Why did they say nothing for 2 years, then put out what might be a lower than total number of subscribers?

Edit: Tweets above, if it does include Core, then Diablo must be launching in Core. Which is also a change in strategy.

 

[freefornow]

Assumptions
No confirmations
Think it makes sense

 

[ProtoByte]

Ahmad I definitely believe is in the know.

In which case, holy shit. They're on thin ice.

 

[Mr Moose]

Assumptions
No confirmations
Think it makes sense

However, in an interview for journalist Stephen Totilo’s Game File newsletter, Xbox head Phil Spencer elaborated more on the figure, noting that it isn’t simply counting players on free trials or other promotional deals.

“That’s fully paid,” Spencer explained. “So those are not promotional players. Those are people, fully paid subs.”

Totilo then asked Spencer if the numbers were being cooked somewhat by last year’s rebranding of Xbox Live Gold to Xbox Game Pass Core, essentially turning all Xbox Gold subscribers into Game Pass subscribers.

Spencer replied that the number of players who had Xbox Live Gold but not Game Pass and could now be added to the count was “a pretty small number”, and that the growth in subscriber numbers can be attributed more to players on PC and the cloud.

“When there’s a fixed number of console players on the planet you’re not going to grow Game Pass forever by shipping just on consoles,” he explained. “So we’re seeing really significant growth on PC, which is great, and cloud.”

 

[havoc00]

Best value in gaming !!

 

[SEGAvangelist]

So I guess Diablo 4 is coming to Game Pass Core?

 

[Mr Moose]

So I guess Diablo 4 is coming to Game Pass Core?

They gotta sell those horses to someone.

 

[MisterXDTV]

So that's why they changed the name of Live Gold to GamePass Core...

LOL

 

[havoc00]

So I guess Diablo 4 is coming to Game Pass Core?

Wow gp gets even better !!

 

[CLW]

Man IF I was incompetent as Phil is at reaching corporate goals id be unemployed what does that douchebag have on higher ups at MS

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Man IF I was incompetent as Phil is at reaching corporate goals id be unemployed what does that douchebag have on higher ups at MS

Rizz.

 

[jm89]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

 

[MisterXDTV]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH

They have no shame

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

Cheers, I've updated the OP.

 

[Elios83]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

Oh dear, so it's likely the numbers declined from two years ago....

 

[Gudji]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

Bleeding money.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

So, they've actually declined by 2 millions despite the massive investments.

And people are doubting them going full 3rd party.

 

[Bonsaibäumchen]

I don't care about wether these numbers include this or that. Its not enough growth either way. Especially if you consider the whole PC market as an potential userbase.
Look how much they spent already an all these acquisitions.
Gamepass is going to be the trojan horse to give games away at low prices aka. nearly f2p but heavily monetized with microtransactions. ( See Diablo 4s horse skins which are more expansive then the game )

 

[Tsaki]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

There it is. Wow! I guess the 25M GP number was inflated due to the pandemic. So they lost quite a number of subscribers

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Why does that matter?

Sonys primary strategy for gaming is not reliant on pushing ps plus subs they aren't pushing nowhere near as hard, whilst Xbox it is fundemental.

Besides gamepass is available on pc, so userbase is much higher.

PS subs also available on PC. And subscription gaming (not just online MP, but a library of games) originated on PS4 in 2014 and spanned across a potential 117M PS4s. Game Pass didn't come till 2017 and last gen the user base topped out around 50M for Xbox.

 

[Withnail]

Jeez. Gamepass numbers falling, hardware sales struggling despite deep price cuts, the ABK investment probably losing value through the expectation the IPs were going to become exclusive to a dwindling platform. No wonder Phil seemed rattled.

 

[tmlDan]

Phils personal masseuse confirms it includes core

damn thats bad, so the GP Ultimate and PC Game pass numbers actually decreased if we knew they had 11MM core members?

 

[jm89]

PS subs also available on PC. And subscription gaming (not just online MP, but a library of games) originated on PS4 in 2014 and spanned across a potential 117M PS4s. Game Pass didn't come till 2017 and last gen the user base topped out around 50M for Xbox.

Ps sub is available through cloud streaming it is nowhere near comparable to what ms have. Where they have a store that allows local play, it has much higher reach.

 

[Raonak]

Gamepass has been out for 7 years now. wild.

 

[PropellerEar]

47 million as of March 23

Beast deal in gaming!

 

[Three]

So Xbox has 34M total subbers Sony's last reported subbers was somewhere in the high 40s. So Sony only has about 10-15M more subbers despite double the user base?

Pretty silly take from you there considering gamepass subs include everything from PC to mobile and tvs.

 

[Topher]

yeah...
found the 34 million are obtained by adding the gold numbers

So the number of Game Pass gamers (non-XLG) has actually dropped approx 2 million or so since the last reported number of 25 million.

 

[Jaybe]

Starting to think this doesn't include Core. Bond said 34m Game Pass members would play Diablo 4. Unless it's coming to Core, I dunno.

So it’s either coming to Core or Sarah Bond lied about 34 million playing Diablo 4. Or she just doesn’t know what’s going on

 

[graywolf323]

Pretty silly take from you there considering gamepass subs include everything from PC to mobile and tvs.

it’s amazing the Xbox evangelists don’t collapse from how hard they have to spin these days

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

So it’s either coming to Core or Sarah Bond lied about 34 million playing Game Pass. Or she just doesn’t know what’s going on

All of the above is true to some degree.

 

[Nydius]

it’s amazing the Xbox evangelists don’t collapse from how hard they have to spin these days

I’m getting a laugh reading their responses to Tom Warren’s tweet after he said Microsoft confirmed it to him. Their responses are basically either “you’re lying” or “sOuRcE?!? ”