Xbox Game Pass growth has slowed down on console but PC subscriptions are rising

With Microsoft looking to acquire Activision Blizzard, there has been a lot of discussion around the popularity of Xbox Game Pass and whether or not Microsoft can become dominant in the market using the service. While Xbox Game Pass is currently profitable, Microsoft has observed a slowdown in growth for the console subscription. 

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's live tech conference, Microsoft Gaming head, Phil Spencer, claimed that Xbox Game Pass currently makes up around 10% to 15% of Xbox's revenue. While the service is profitable at this stage, there has been slow down in growth this year.

Spencer isn't worried about growth slowing down for console subscriptions though, as it is likely that most Xbox owners who want Game Pass already have it at this point. Microsoft's recent studio acquisitions, including the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, have primarily been an effort to get more big-name content to put on Game Pass, which in turn should drive up interest in Xbox consoles and widen the pool of customers to sell Game Pass subscriptions to.

While Game Pass for Console is slowing down a bit, Microsoft says it has seen “incredible growth” on Game Pass for PC. As VGC points out, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, recently said during an earnings call that PC Game Pass subscriptions are up by 159% year-on-year. Additionally, Xbox Cloud Gaming has been used by 20 million players at this stage, so other areas of the business are still growing.

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KitGuru Says: With so many subscription services vying for our money each month, a lot of people nowadays only subscribe to different things in small bursts, allowing them to switch between various services when the need arises without adding on extra expense. I wouldn't be surprised if many who subscribed for Halo Infinite are now unsubscribed and waiting for the next major exclusive – which should be Starfield in 2023. 

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