Xbox Game Pass
Game Pass is a subscription service as part of Xbox and offered by Microsoft Gaming. Launched on June 1, 2017, the service allows users to download and play video games for Xbox video game consoles or Microsoft Windows PCs from a rotating library, with the games remaining accessible as long as the user has an active subscription. Game Pass subscribers also receive discounts on purchases of games from the service's library and their respective downloadable content (DLC).
Developer
June 1, 2017
Active
34 million (as of February 2024)
The service consists of two products; Xbox Game Pass for Xbox One, Series X, and Series S consoles, and PC Game Pass for PCs running Windows 10 and Windows 11. Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are available as separate subscription products. A premium tier known as Game Pass Ultimate includes access to both services, in addition to Xbox Cloud Gaming, an on-demand cloud gaming available on console, PC, and mobile platforms, and Xbox Game Pass Core subscription benefits.
The service features titles from first-party Microsoft Gaming subsidiaries Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax Media, as well as other third-party publishers. Since January 2018, all new Xbox Game Studios titles have been available to Game Pass subscribers immediately upon their release. Microsoft has also offered access to Electronic Arts's EA Play service for PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
Xbox Live Gold was discontinued on September 14, 2023, with the service being merged into Xbox Game Pass as a new low price tier, Xbox Game Pass Core, which offers a limited set of free titles to subscribers.
Structure[edit]
Xbox Game Pass is similar to Xbox One's existing EA Play video game subscription and to the PlayStation Now service offered by rival Sony.[6][31] The subscription catalog contained more than 100 games at launch, with games being added to, and sometimes withdrawn from, the catalog from time to time.[32] Xbox Game Pass allows the player to download the full game to the console; according to Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, this was done to give players "continuous, full-fidelity gameplay without having to worry about streaming, bandwidth or connectivity issues".[33] Unlike EA Play, Xbox Game Pass offers games from a wide range of publishers, such as Bandai Namco, Capcom, WB Games, 2K Games, and first-party games from Xbox Game Studios.[32] According to Spencer, Microsoft sees the Game Pass as more of a platform to offer games that do not fit the common mold that sell well and would be difficult to gain a publisher, and instead to allow these games to be offered in the subscription model, encouraging both developers to create new and experimental titles. The Game Pass also provides a way for players to try games they would not normally have purchased.[34]
The catalog features select games for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One as well as select Xbox 360 and Xbox titles with which Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One are backwards-compatible.[33] There is no limit to the number of games a player can download and install to their consoles, other than the amount of storage space available to the console.[32] As long as a game remains in the catalog, it is available for unlimited download and play by subscribers.[33] Players can purchase games in the catalog at a 20% discount, and any related add-on content for those games at a 10% discount. The discounted price is available only while the game is in the catalog and is only for the particular game.[33] Games from the catalog can be played while the console is offline, but for no more than 30 days before it must reconnect to verify an active subscription.[35]
If the game is removed from the catalog or the player ends their subscription, access is suspended until the player purchases the game or renews their subscription, but their in-game progress will be saved in the interim.[33] If the game is an Xbox 360 title, it will be backward-compatible and must be used on Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One; it cannot be downloaded to a player's Xbox 360 console unless the player chooses to purchase it.[33]
Spencer has stated that Microsoft has multiple ways to compensate developers for games on Game Pass and there is no one single payback approach. The payback scheme ranges from a flat rate approach as to assure exclusivity on the Microsoft platform, to completely covering the costs of development, and includes various models based on usage and monetization approaches.[36] Paradox Interactive's Fredrik Wester stated the terms they have had followed the Netflix model where the developer or publisher was paid a lump sum by Microsoft for their game on the service for a fixed period of time based on a perceived value, rather than the per-play royalty-based approach used by services like Spotify.[37] The upfront approach, along with the large subscriber numbers, allows developers to select ongoing directions for their games. In the case of Obsidian Entertainment, they were able to consider additional downloadable content for their game Outer Worlds as they knew millions were playing it.[34]
In a July 2020 interview, Xbox's marketing director Aaron Greenberg said that Xbox Game Pass is not necessarily meant to be profitable for Microsoft at the current time but is designed to help draw more players to use it through word-of-mouth by offering a large set of features as a seemingly under priced value, and in the long-term become valuable. This allows them to avoid high costs of advertising the service.[38] As part of a published report as part of Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard in 2022, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority reported that Game Pass did cannibalize sales of games for around the first year they are present on the service. Spencer acknowledged the report, but stated the "you instantly have more players of the game, which is actually leading to more sales of the game".[39]
While there had been rumors that Microsoft was working to bring Xbox Game Pass to other console platforms like the PlayStation or Nintendo Switch, Spencer said in an August 2021 interview that there are currently no plans for these consoles. Spencer said "We have no plans to bring [the full Xbox experience] to any other kind of closed platforms right now, mainly because those closed platforms don't want something like Game Pass" and that their focus was on making it available to open systems like personal computers and web applications.[40]
Subscribers[edit]
In the Q3 2020 earnings call in April 2020, Microsoft reported that there were over 10 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers.[41] By September 2020, it had reached 15 million subscribers,[42] 18 million by January 2021,[43] and over 25 million by January 2022.[44]
According to documents related to the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Game Pass had total revenues of $2.9 billion in the fiscal year ending January 2021, which was about 30% of Microsoft's games and services revenues, or 18% of its total Xbox business.[45]
In February 2024, Microsoft announced there were 34 million Game Pass subscribers.[46]
Availability[edit]
Xbox Game Pass is available in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[47][48]
On March 29, 2022, the PC Game Pass Preview launched in five more Southeast Asian countries (the first one was Singapore), including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The service has been officially launched in these countries on April 21, 2022.[49][50]
The PC Game Pass service has also expanded to several European, North Africa, and Middle East countries through a preview that started on February 28, 2023.[51]
A portion of the PC Game Pass catalog will be available to the GeForce Now streaming service later in 2023.[52]