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[Banjo64]

That’s a lot of $1 subs.

The article specifies that this is from console only (does not include PC Game Pass).

Part of the CADE support documentation that Microsoft supplied.

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/8884....it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=tweaktown

Microsoft reveals how much money Game Pass actually makes
Microsoft has revealed Game Pass earnings data to Brazilian regulators to help build a favorable case for the upcoming merger with Activision-Blizzard.
VIEW GALLERY - 5
Derek Strickland
@DeekeTweak

Published Oct 9, 2022 2:23 PM CDT
1 minute & 4 seconds read time
Microsoft reveals just how much money it makes from Xbox Game Pass on consoles, and it's quite a bit.


5
VIEW GALLERY - 5 IMAGES
Right now multiple worldwide regulators are sifting through tons of games industry data. The massive Microsoft-Activision merger is looming and regulators have collected libraries of data, figures, testimonials, and expert opinions as they try to determine if the mega-merger is good for consumers and the $198 billion video games market as a whole.


Popular Now: NASA's Webb telescope catches a giant spider out in deep space
Some regulators like Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) have already approved the merger. CADE released a public document outlining its thought process on the approval and included a ton of data on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and others.
One specific figure shows just how much Microsoft makes from Xbox Game Pass on consoles. According to the data, Xbox Game Pass generated $2.9 billion from consoles in 2021. Based on data publicly available by Microsoft, Xbox gaming generated a total of $16.28 billion in calendar year 2021.
This means Xbox Game Pass made up roughly 18% of Microsoft's total yearly Xbox revenues ($16.28 billion), and nearly 30% of its games and services revenues ($12.581 billion) for the period.

We can take that even further and align those values with subscribers as of that period. Microsoft has sporadically revealed Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers so we can't be 100% accurate, however between August 2021 and March 2022, Xbox Game Pass went from 15 million to 18 million subscribers. So we can pinpoint a range $2.9 billion revenues generated from 15-18 million subscribers across both PC and consoles.


Remember the revenue figure is just for consoles and does not include PC Game Pass earnings.

 

[Sosokrates]

Its the better business and consumer move long term to have a first party supported subscription and retail model.

 

[DenchDeckard]

That's crazy...wtf.

How is it making that much off just console subs?

Is this sales of content etc for games included in game pass. That's a lot of cash.

 

[Jaybe]

Sounds about right. A bit above what they used to have when Xbox Live Gold was in the Mid-40 million subscriber range at $60/year. I doubt much revenue is coming from the PC Game Pass side.

 

[Hobbygaming]

So subscribers went from 25 million down to 15 million and back up to 18 million?

 

[Sosokrates]

Thats 16 million subs paying $15 a month?
Or whatever it is there a lot not doing the $1 deal...

 

[cireza]

A pretty wild guess I know, but I think that only a minority of people are actually browsing internet forums trying to exploit every single flaw possible to have subs below the normal price.

 

[Ash Sparrow]

Wow, WAIT TILL THOSE COD GAMES HIT
CRAZY

 

[SteelCurtain 59]

Hmm, but that goes against the narrative that Game Pass is hemorrhaging money and that Microsoft is using their Azure and Office money to sustain it

 

[Max_Po]

That is a lot of $$$

 

[Little Chicken]

2.9 billion people taking advantage of those $1 subs.

 

[Pelta88]

Me waiting to see how much profit GP generated while watching the usual suspects pretend revenue is profit.

Collin dropping absolute FACTS!

 

[Godot25]

What?

I thought everybody is just using 1$ promo and then they are creating another account to use that promo again...

I'm confused

 

[Sosokrates]

Hmm, but that goes against the narrative that Game Pass is hemorrhaging money and that Microsoft is using their Azure and Office money to sustain it

Some folks dont understand the concept of making an investment which creates a short term loss in order to enable a bigger long term profit.

 

[Marchizmo]

I love Gamepass on PC the value is worth it to me.

 

[Frank Horrigan]

Another thread where people don't understand the difference between revenue and profit

 

[SportsFan581]

Impressive numbers. About $9.5 per month per subscriber, which isn't bad at all considering the on-boarding deals. As expected a lot more people paying full price than some of the detractors on here figured.

 

[Sosokrates]

Another thread where people don't understand the difference between revenue and profit

Huh? Where is anyone in this thread saying this is profit?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Huh? Where is anyone in this thread saying this is profit?

What? Gamepass is profitable?? But Gaf told me it's a cash dumb hole for Microsoft's money with no profit at all.

 

[In Cold Blood]

Another thread where people don't understand the difference between revenue and profit

Ah, the narrative shift.
So it used to be that no one was paying the full sub price, so there was fuck all revenue from it, to now that its about profit.
How about you leave the profit up to Microsoft to worry about?

 

[johnjohn]

Damn, so they have 2.9 billion subscribers? Impressive.

 

[Sosokrates]

Lol, DeepEnigma sorry deep, but 1 poster does not make it a thread where people are mistaking revenue for profit.

 

[Godot25]

Another thread where people don't understand the difference between revenue and profit

Ehh.. I think overwhelming majority of people know the difference.

It's just funny that Microsoft rakes billions on GP while GAF loves to pretend that majority of the people are 1$ subs that are cancelled after promo.

 

[SteadyEvo]

Another thread where people don't understand the difference between revenue and profit

It’s a gaming forum, not finance.

What’s the difference? I dunno why gamers get all fired up over this shit like they’re part of the team or stock holders. Funny to me…

On topic I let my sub expire for the 1st time in 3 years. I took advantage of 3yrs for $180. We’ll see if they release something to bring me back at full price

 

[fermcr]

Guess that's a lot of people with those 1€ subs...

 

[DeepEnigma]

Lol, DeepEnigma trolling an xbox thread. Im shocked

Where are the posts then?

How am I trolling? I quoted the post that says it. Maybe you have him on ignore, derp.

 

[remember_spinal]

Me waiting to see how much profit GP generated while watching the usual suspects pretend revenue is profit.

 

[anthony2690]

So subscribers went from 25 million down to 15 million and back up to 18 million?

The 25 million was never an official number, it was a number thrown out by some guy at take 2, I believe.

The last official numbers were 18 million I think? & There has been no numbers released since.

 

[Kamina]

So what’s the margin?

 

[Godot25]

The 25 million was never an official number, it was a number thrown out by some guy at take 2, I believe.

The last official numbers were 18 million I think? & There has been no numbers released since.

Wasn't there 25 mil. number confirmed after ActiBlizz announcement?

EDIT: Yup
https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-game-pass-reaches-25-million-subscribers


And Nadella confirmed that GP grew in every quarter after that.

 

[Banjo64]

The 25 million was never an official number, it was a number thrown out by some guy at take 2, I believe.

The last official numbers were 18 million I think? & There has been no numbers released since.

Wrong pal.

Spencer confirmed 25m earlier this year.

https://www.businessinsider.com/xbox-game-pass-to-make-billions-in-2022-2022-1?r=US&IR=T

 

[Jaybe]

The 25 million was never an official number, it was a number thrown out by some guy at take 2, I believe.

The last official numbers were 18 million I think? & There has been no numbers released since.

Phil: 25 million in Jan 2022 in post below.

The take 2 guy said 30 million about a month before this or something, clearly he didn’t know.

Welcoming the Incredible Teams and Legendary Franchises of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming - Xbox Wire

Creators of Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft and more join Team Xbox As a team, we are on a mission to extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. We all know that gaming is the...

news.xbox.com

 

[SportsFan581]

These numbers are the perfect example of why MS's acquisitions are a lot less about Sony and much more so about feeding the GP beast. They want to keep that revenue growing. There's probably a lot of potential in native mobile apps being included in GP, likely why King became a target.

 

[remember_spinal]

Lets see how much actual profit its generating after putting AAA first party games on the service day one and buying day one 3rd party deals year round

 

[Hobbygaming]

Yeah how much are they paying out is what I wanna know

 

[Hitchyhero]

Wow more than a third of the planet are subbed to gamepass at $1

 

[Sosokrates]

How am I trolling? I quoted the post that says it. Maybe you have him on ignore, derp.

Oh shit... Yeah ok you got me, 1 poster....
But for the record.
The_Mike its not profit. Xbox division eont be hitting profit for a while because of the zenimax and other acquisitions.

Anyway the take away from this is that $1 tricks are not the vast majority some people like to say it is.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Oh shit... Yeah ok you got me, 1 poster....
But for the record.
The_Mike its not profit. Xbox division eont be hitting profit for a while because of the zenimax and other acquisitions.

Anyway the take away from this is that $1 tricks are not the vast majority some people like to say it is.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Another thread where people don't understand the difference between revenue and profit

This....lol

 

[adamsapple]

Nearly $3 Bn in GP revenue alone..

That's a lot of Doritos and Mountain dew based codes.

 

[Frank Horrigan]

Huh? Where is anyone in this thread saying this is profit?

Already answered and people are acting like it's profit.

Ah, the narrative shift.
So it used to be that no one was paying the full sub price, so there was fuck all revenue from it, to now that its about profit.
How about you leave the profit up to Microsoft to worry about?

I never commented either way on gamepass. I like the service, but there's a mountain of difference between profit and revenue

How about you leave the PR talk for microsoft to worry about? Because you're shit at it.

Ehh.. I think overwhelming majority of people know the difference.

It's just funny that Microsoft rakes billions on GP while GAF loves to pretend that majority of the people are 1$ subs that are cancelled after promo.

I'm not commenting either way on what GAF or fans say. I'm just pointing out what happens in every thread where revenue is mentioned.

It’s a gaming forum, not finance.

Then why is it posted on a gaming forum?

What’s the difference? I dunno why gamers get all fired up over this shit like they’re part of the team or stock holders. Funny to me…

On topic I let my sub expire for the 1st time in 3 years. I took advantage of 3yrs for $180. We’ll see if they release something to bring me back at full price

I don't know why gamers get fired up over this kind of stuff, it's stupid. Just look at the reaction to me pointing out the difference between revenue and profit. People acting like I came in here and commented either way about gamepass.

 

[xion4360]

It’s a gaming forum, not finance.

What’s the difference? I dunno why gamers get all fired up over this shit like they’re part of the team or stock holders. Funny to me…

On topic I let my sub expire for the 1st time in 3 years. I took advantage of 3yrs for $180. We’ll see if they release something to bring me back at full price

Revenue would be the amount of money they make period. profit would be the amount of money they made after the money they had to spend.

for example

1million cost. 4m revenue = 3m profit.

 

[SportsFan581]

The_Mike its not profit. Xbox division eont be hitting profit for a while because of the zenimax and other acquisitions.

The Zenimax/ABK acquisitions are them purchasing an asset. Since this asset retains value it isn't going to be deducted from their balance sheets like an expense. The acquisitions will make them more profitable (as they roll the profits of those companies into their own), not less.

 

[anthony2690]

Wrong pal.

Spencer confirmed 25m earlier this year.

https://www.businessinsider.com/xbox-game-pass-to-make-billions-in-2022-2022-1?r=US&IR=T

Oh wow, I'm surprised I never saw a thread about this here (as every other thing he says gets quoted) that's pretty impressive growth though!

Wasn't there 25 mil. number confirmed after ActiBlizz announcement?

EDIT: Yup
https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-game-pass-reaches-25-million-subscribers


And Nadella confirmed that GP grew in every quarter after that.

Turns out I'm wrong and there has been an update since!

But that is for 2022, and this thread is about 2021.

 

[Godot25]

Oh wow, I'm surprised I never saw a thread about this here (as every other thing he says gets quoted) that's pretty impressive growth though!


Turns out I'm wrong and there has been an update since!

But that is for 2022, and this thread is about 2021.

Yup. But that update was in January and I doubt that in January alone GP grew like crazy. Main drivers were probably Halo Infinite and Forza that came out in 2021.

 

[SlimySnake]

Thats a lot of money. They should be able to afford far more third party AAA games than they currently do. Games like Elden Rings, Harry Potter, Resident Evil, Avatar, Assassins Creed etc.

At least last year they had a couple of big first party AAA games in november and december. this year was pitiful. Just a sea of indie games and B games. Elden Rings, Saints Row, Gotham Knights, Castillo Protocol are pretty much the only big AAA titles to release this year outside of CoD and some PS4 first party games, so they shouldve put all those $3 billion into securing them. highly doubt they wouldve cost more than $200 million each.

 

[SportsFan581]

Oh wow, I'm surprised I never saw a thread about this here (as every other thing he says gets quoted) that's pretty impressive growth though!


Turns out I'm wrong and there has been an update since!

But that is for 2022, and this thread is about 2021.

It's from January 2022 though, so not a bad number to run against those 2021 results. Although it goes without saying that revenue generated was likely larger in Dec 21 vs. Jan 21, just as a result of subscriber growth and a probable Xmas bump.

 

[Sosokrates]

people are acting like it's profit.

sorry apart from mike, no one is saying that its profit.

 

[jorgejjvr]

Imagine with cod on the service and the family plan

 

[AmuroChan]

As a gamer, I don't care. I just play the games.

As a MSFT stockholder though, I very much care what the profit margin is. I hope GP's path to profitability takes much less time than say Netflix did.