People with Xbox Game Pass don’t play more games than PS5 owners says analyst

New player data for Xbox Game Pass shows how most people aren’t using the service the way it was intended.

When it was first unveiled, Xbox Game Pass was seen as Microsoft’s secret weapon; the key selling point for all Xbox consoles. But in the years that have followed it’s become clear that video game subscriptions in general are not the draw that many imagined – that, in fact, relatively few people want a ‘Netflix of gaming’.

Game Pass in particular has regularly missed growth targets, with even the inclusion of Call Of Duty doing little to boost subscriber numbers.

Many also believed Game Pass has done more harm than good to the health of the industry at large. Microsoft, despite previous claims to the contrary, admitted in 2023 that the service has led to less traditional game sales and last month, a couple of industry figures decried the service as an ‘unsustainable’ business model.

A new report from Emmanuel Rosier, director of market intelligence at analytic firm Newzoo, has also examined the influence of Game Pass and found that it has little to no effect on people’s playing habits.

Rosier appeared on the Game Wise podcast to discuss industry trends based on Newzoo’s research and one detail he shared was the difference in player behaviour between Xbox owners and PlayStation owners… where he found there wasn’t really any.

‘Despite all the efforts done by Microsoft with Game Pass and the acquisition of many studios and the release of very high quality games in Game Pass, we struggled to find a significant, different behaviour compared to players on PlayStation,’ said Rosier.

What he means by this is that even with access to Game Pass’ huge library of games, Xbox owners aren’t playing more games or even spending more time playing games than PlayStation owners; something Rosier admitted to being surprised by.

Rosier also reiterated how Game Pass is cannibalising game sales, as evidenced by how Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, which was a day one Game Pass launch, sold less Xbox copies compared to previous Call Of Duty games.

He did note that Newzoo compiled its data based on games that a player had spent at least two hours on, which Rosier argued shows that Game Pass subscribers tend to only try new games for a brief time and then give up on them.

‘There is so much offering in the Game Pass that if you don’t really… if you’re not getting hooked in the game very quickly, you just download another one…,’ said Rosier.

One thing Newzoo hasn’t been able to measure is the completion rate of games on Game Pass, which would be interesting to know since it would show how many people actually stuck with games they did have an interest in.

None of this behaviour is thought to be unique to Game Pass, but since it has a much larger library than PS Plus, and the promise of day one first party games, it’s all the more notable that relatively few people are taking advantage of it.

This is especially problematic for Xbox because they must now be unsure exactly how much to prioritise it, although they’ve certainly made a big deal about getting it working not just on consoles but on PC, mobile devices through cloud streaming, Amazon Fire sticks, and the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally handhelds.

Microsoft’s pivot to multiplatform releases seems to imply that they realise Game Pass has not worked out as a killer app. Since now some of its biggest Xbox games can be played on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, without any need for a Game Pass subscription.

Even Xbox boss Phil Spencer, the man credited with spearheading Game Pass’ creation, seems to have lost some enthusiasm for the service, labelling it as ‘just another option’ in an interview earlier this year.

It’s a far cry from his bold proclamation that Microsoft would quit the gaming business if Game Pass subscribers didn’t reach 110 million by 2030. It almost certainly won’t but this wouldn’t be the first time Spencer said something that he didn’t follow through on.

Not only is Microsoft the biggest games publisher in the world, now that it owns Call Of Duty, but Spencer recently told Xbox employees the business is thriving, with ‘more players, games, and gaming hours than ever before’… as hundreds of those employees were unceremoniously let go.

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