Xbox Game Pass has reached more than 35 million subscribers

i find these numbers are hard to believe. weren't they at 20 or 25m last year and there were reports if they don't reach the 30 or 35 million then the gamepass is no good and in danger of being canned or whatever ?

are these 35M monthly active subs ? or they look at it if 1 person subbed for 1 month during the fesical year then it counts as 1 ? because that's super misleading
 
35 million is a great step to sustainability. Who knows how much they had to spend to get there and how many more subscriptions they can get. At some point the money's going to run out and they're going to have to hike the subscription price.
 
Well I guess they haven't got as much pressure to increase subs as before now the other half, well other 80% have to buy Xbox games if they require them.
 
From 34+ to 35+ (it it's true, of course) is barely moving a proverbal needle, considering CoD drop and other content.

Gamepass is basically stalled, hardware is dead or anemic and it's a death sentence for a service that operates on 'Embrace, extend, and extinguish' basis and burning literal billions every year.
 
//DEVIL// said:
i find these numbers are hard to believe. weren't they at 20 or 25m last year and there were reports if they don't reach the 30 or 35 million then the gamepass is no good and in danger of being canned or whatever ?

are these 35M monthly active subs ? or they look at it if 1 person subbed for 1 month during the fesical year then it counts as 1 ? because that's super misleading
Click to expand...
The 25M was Ultimate (and non-core) a while ago. They changed Gold to Gamepass Core, which had 9-11M.
www.theverge.com

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service grows to 25 million subscribers

Just as Microsoft adds Activision to the Xbox Game Pass library
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
34M last year with Gold changing to Core.
www.theverge.com

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service grows to 34 million subscribers

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass growth has slowed.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
The 34 million figure is reflective of the fact Xbox Series S / X consoles haven't been selling as well as PS5 hardware, and that consumers aren't flocking to Game Pass for Xbox Cloud Gaming on mobile devices. Microsoft also started converting Xbox Live Gold subscribers over to Xbox Game Pass Core last year, and the company has confirmed to The Verge that the 34 million includes those subscribers, too.
Click to expand...
 
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//DEVIL// said:
so wait. are these numbers of 35 is basically the same as last year ? no increase ? 25M plus 10 from the core ?
Click to expand...
It grew by 1M, but where those are from now (Game Pass Core, Game Pass Standard, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Ultimate) is unclear. We only know last year the bump was from Core alone.
(Updated previous post to include the 34M/Core data).
 
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  • April 2022 (from FTC filings): "We have 33.6 million subscribers across our Xbox services. 21.9 million Game Pass (Console & Ultimate) and 11.7 million Xbox Live Gold."
  • September 2023: [Rebrands Xbox Live Gold as Game Pass Core]
  • February 2024: "We have 34 million Game Pass subscribers!"
  • June 2025: "Game Pass has 35 million subscribers."

Anyone who says these numbers are good are deluding themselves. 1.4 million in "growth" over three years despite releasing multiple big budget day one AAA games, including Call of Duty, on the service is paltry at best. I'd be more interested in seeing data on user churn.
 
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Nydius said:
  • April 2022 (from FTC filings): "We have 33.6 million subscribers across our Xbox services. 21.9 million Game Pass (Console & Ultimate) and 11.7 million Xbox Live Gold."
  • September 2023: [Rebrands Xbox Live Gold as Game Pass Core]
  • February 2024: "We have 34 million Game Pass subscribers!"
  • June 2025: "Game Pass has 35 million subscribers."

Anyone who says these numbers are good are deluding themselves. A paltry 1.4 million in "growth" over three years despite releasing multiple big budget day one AAA games, including Call of Duty, on the service.
Click to expand...


1. More than 35
2. These are not "official" numbers, it's data scraped from someone's linked in.
 
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saintjules said:
There's a reason they're still continuing the subscription model nearly a decade after starting it. So why haven't they stopped it if it's bad business?
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Because they have a ton of $$$ and they are hoping it eventually pans out. Plus funny games can be played with numbers. Like rebranding Xbox Live to GP.
 
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adamsapple said:
1. More than 35
2. These are not "official" number, it's data scraped from someone's linked in.
Click to expand...
Agree. But it's quite likely the number lies between 35 & 36 million. Wouldn't they claim "more than 36" or "more than 41" if that was the case, as they frequently do in these regards?
 
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Jigsaah said:
35 million X what...10 bucks a month on the low end? That's alot of money. Obviously this number goes up and down by the hour but if they are averaging this...

There's no way they are spending that much money on deals alone. There are other expenses...sure...but I pay 12 dollars a month on PC. Xbox folks are paying more. Then consider what happens when they put gamepass on basically everything...TVs, handhelds...minifridges...

Can somebody explain how this is not sustainable?
Click to expand...

They developping games that need to be paid, all the games in the pipeline can cost billions, maintaining the whole Xbox servers, updates, etc, also cost money, they also spend up to 1 billion for external games to be added to the service. And to pay all of that, you have people who pay 10-20$ per month, or people who buy the games, which number gets lower and lower, as game pass is growing, but the drop is sales isn't compensiated by game pass growth, so they increase the price. And a big majority of game pass users are Xbox console users, which install base doesn't really grow nowadays. But you still have to pay people to make games, and more and more deals to keep your service relevant.

So yeah it's burining a lot of money to earn a bit. Could've work better if there were no day one games on it (or not like all big budget games), it would've help the service keeping a bit of more money.
 
adamsapple said:
1. More than 35
2. These are not "official" numbers, it's data scraped from someone's linked in.
Click to expand...

Even if it's 35.9M that's still a pathetically anemic "growth" over 3 years when one considers that this includes all the supposedly high value ABK titles they put on the service.

But keep moving the goalposts to defend this abject failure. You'd fit in well in Redmond. When something doesn't look good, just change the name and try to bamboozle them with bullshit.
 
Nydius said:
abject failure
Click to expand...

No Way Kg GIF by SHOWTIME Sports
 
JMRM said:
Agree. But it's quite likely the number lies between 35 & 36 million. Wouldn't they claim "more than 36" or "more than 41" if that was the case, as they frequently do in these regards?
Click to expand...
Would it really matter for a LinkedIn profile.
"You went from 0 to 35 million subscribers, sorry but we were looking for someone who could go from 0 to 37 million subscribers for this position"
Plus without seeing the profile history the number could be from months or years ago and could be more or less now.
 
I would imagine overwhelming majority of that base is on consoles. Which begs the question, what are Microsoft gonna do to keep those numbers and grow them if they're going out of console business and there being no reason to buy Xbox next gen? PC gamers have clearly shown they will stick with Steam.
 
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Heisenberg007 said:
Meanwhile, in reality:
  • Phil Spencer says Game Pass isn't for everyone.
  • Satya Nadella detaches Game Pass growth from his own executive bonuses.
  • Game Pass misses internal goals for 3 years consecutively.
  • Microsoft increases Game Pass price multiple times.
  • Microsoft stops day-one games for $15 tier and limits them only to a fraction of Game Pass users (Ultimate tier).
If you change the fundamental structure of your service, that's not "leaning into it harder."
Click to expand...
Very valid points! I think they're making adjustments based on analytics, which they need to, especially if things AREN'T going as planned. But also not completely neglecting it says something too IMO.
 
Lmao so basically no increase in subscriptions after spending $70 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard and torpedoing Call of Duty sales last year by putting it on Gamepass?

Another quality Microsoft business decision in gaming wew
 
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Heisenberg007 said:
  • Microsoft stops day-one games for $15 tier and limits them only to a fraction of Game Pass users (Ultimate tier
Click to expand...

FYI this is wrong.

The PC tier and those who are still maintaining their Console tier via auto-recurring get day 1 games as well.


Nydius said:
You can live in your green rat delusion world all you want. $70 billion to buy ABK and billions more paying to get games on their service and they can't grow more than two million in three years?

As they raise their prices?

Game Pass is like 90% of your posts: Trash.
Click to expand...

Chill, bro. Your assessment of this being an 'abject failure' is wrong, that's all.

Jennifer Aniston Monday GIF by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
 
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mayham2199 said:
This is not surprising really. Matt has been saying for a long time that sub services have stalled. If there were any real growth in GP he would be saying it.
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They were up in revenue in the most recent report though, while game sales were down. Probably more to do with price increases than significant user increases though.
 
//DEVIL// said:
i find these numbers are hard to believe. weren't they at 20 or 25m last year and there were reports if they don't reach the 30 or 35 million then the gamepass is no good and in danger of being canned or whatever ?

are these 35M monthly active subs ? or they look at it if 1 person subbed for 1 month during the fesical year then it counts as 1 ? because that's super misleading
Click to expand...
They included all live users inside gamepass so they are pretty much flat or even a bit low.
 
Nydius said:
You can live in your green rat delusion world all you want. $70 billion to buy ABK and billions more paying to get games on their service and they can't grow more than two million in three years?

As they raise their prices?

Game Pass is like 90% of your posts: Trash.
Click to expand...

Why is this guy so angry? About a subscription service?
 
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reinking said:
I'm out. My sub lapsed a few days ago and I am not resubscribing until I either get a deal I cannot refuse (not jumping through hoops) or I will sub a month if there is something I really want to try out.

It is a great service but it is does not fit me. I actually believe I have played less games on Xbox due to Game Pass than more. Lack of ownership means that I put things off and it becomes a little less a priority to play. The next thing you know, it is an older game and there is a new shiny game I want to play. At least I sent it out with a banger, Claire Obscure.
Click to expand...
Same. Gamepass...fairly or not....subconsiously makes me less motivated to try it out.
 


Basically:
Gamming ain't MS´s core business. They don't care about the "Video Game Business". They are not driven by selling gamer or even games having good quality; they are just content: MAU, Engagement, AI implementation etc...

MS can thanos Snap Xbox out of existence the moment they see reaching 3B people is just a wet dream.
 
UltimaKilo said:
That's such bullshit, never going to happen. They are not going to simply allow Apple to walk in and start slowly taking more market share.
Click to expand...
LMAO imagine thinking Apple needs to or wants to do anything when they already make the most money in gaming

www.visualcapitalist.com

Visualizing Apple’s Rise to the Top of the Gaming Business

In 2020, Apple generated an estimated $13.5 billion dollars in gaming revenue, despite the fact it doesn't make any games or gaming consoles.
www.visualcapitalist.com www.visualcapitalist.com

Apple will never give a shit about low margin gaming consoles when they can just get free billions from running the App Store
 
saintjules said:
Sounds like good numbers. It's been said by many people that GP isn't a sustainable model. What is now 8 years later and it's still there.

The showcase yesterday still continues to push some games (even AA ones) as day one availability on the platform. If the service was bad/not sustainable, why is it still seemingly moving strong all this time later?
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It's not, at least for big AAA games, Microsoft need Playstation and Steam to keep the lights up, I mean, without their parent company money.

About this number, great, but I wonder if it's all paying the full price. Here in Brazil, a lot of people keep using Game Pass PC free using the Microsoft Rewards program. I subscribed the service at least 8x already paying 1 dollar per a month or even three months with their please comeback emails offering me deals to sign up to their services.
 
Edder1 said:
I would imagine overwhelming majority of that base is on consoles, which begs the question, what are Microsoft gonna do to keep those numbers and grow them if they're going out of console business and there being no reason to buy Xbox next gen? PC gamers have clearly shown they will stick with Steam.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the only way PC Gamepass has any chance IMO would be to partner with Steam, where all games have the flexibility/moddability of Steam.

No way that would work since there is no way Valve would allow it.
 
Ms putting the squeze with GPU on console but pc gamepass is as worth it as ever. Hard not to sub back for the next couple of months for Space Marine, the Alters, Metaphor and Wuchang.
 
UltimaKilo said:
Valve OS is not a threat to replace Windows on PCs.
Click to expand...
Not yet, but people are getting so sick and fed up with that crap known as Windows.

The ROG Ally Xbox is the first acknowledgement from MS that gamers are sick of this.

If nvidia drivers werent so bad on Linux (performance is basically a full tier lower than Windows) then many gamers would have switched. With AMD GPUs, games often run better on Linux/SteamOS than windows.
 
ChorizoPicozo said:
who is talking about Valve OS (which is not even a thing).

Im talking about Steam as the definitive videogame store-front on PC.....on Windows PC. While every interaction of a MS store has been even more irrelevant than the EGS one.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you might be misunderstanding, MS needs to prevent to possibility of a subset of users to potentially ditch Windows for MacOS. Plenty of gamers increasingly cite gaming as one of the reasons they have not switched to MacOS, especially as the advancements in Apple Silicone allow for more games to run quite well.

Unknown Soldier said:
LMAO imagine thinking Apple needs to or wants to do anything when they already make the most money in gaming

www.visualcapitalist.com

Visualizing Apple’s Rise to the Top of the Gaming Business

In 2020, Apple generated an estimated $13.5 billion dollars in gaming revenue, despite the fact it doesn't make any games or gaming consoles.
www.visualcapitalist.com www.visualcapitalist.com

Apple will never give a shit about low margin gaming consoles when they can just get free billions from running the App Store
Click to expand...
"LMAO" Where did I mention anything about gaming consoles? Apple wants to increase its PC sales and ecosystem, which is why they have been slowly creeping into gaming on MacOS.
 
And Im one of them: I just grabbed the cheapest one because I wanted to play MW3 and Halo MCC on my Xone but Gold isnt a thing anymore.

So, those numbers might be inflated.
 
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