Game Pass Causes Some Titles To Lose 80% Of Sales

Summary

Many games on Xbox Game Pass can supposedly lose up to 80% of their potential profits.
Many AAA games that lose profits can be games that Xbox acquired to be playable on Game Pass.
Despite these loses, Game Pass has been proven to be a fantastic service for titles such as indie games.

Without a doubt, Xbox Game Pass has become one of the best deals in gaming, to the point where it’s allowed Microsoft to shift their focus from consoles and instead create an ecosystem where anything, from your PC to your portable phone, can be an Xbox.

However, with some games being launched day one on Game Pass, one may wonder how Microsoft is recuperating the cost of lost sales. As it turns out, similar to how Epic Games free titles are digging a trench of debt, Microsoft is also losing a good deal of profits through Game Pass.

Insider Denies Rumors Regarding Next Generation Xbox Console

Next-generation Xbox console rumors have begun, such as the supposed Xbox Prime that a notable Xbox insider has already denied.

Business journalist Christopher Dring, an expert on the industry and former head of gamesIndustry.biz, explained in an online Q&A exactly what the business model for Game Pass can entail and how some titles are even expected to lose up to 80% of their profits.

Overall Trends for the Gaming Industry are Down

The industry is, as a whole, on a massive incline, and Dring helps explain how profits and statistics may shift as the market continues on the path of cloud gaming and subscription services. Additionally, there are still plenty of reasons why subscriptions can benefit gaming.

Xbox Cloud Gaming Streaming Ultimate Insider Game Pass

First, even though Dring explained “that games that are in Game Pass can expect to lose around 80% of its expected premium sales on Xbox,” he also explains how this statistic is very well understood within the industry.

It’s important to note that many of the massive titles released on Game Pass, such as Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, were created by companies such as Bethesda, which Microsoft had bought previously. A big push behind these acquisitions was the potential upgrade to Game Pass.

So Game Pass doesn’t solely leak profit from other game companies but from Microsoft themselves. Not to mention, being packaged on Game Pass allows potential customers to try your product when they may not have otherwise.

And at least Microsoft has more stability with people playing on separate platforms such as handheld devices and PCs. Compare this to Sony, which, according to Dring, “is a little anxious it still has such a large audience to upgrade from PS4.”

Being ‘games-focused’ has created an excellent incentive for Microsoft to capture the market from a different angle. Dring also makes the good point that, despite leaking into profits, the massive audience of Game Pass can then shift attention away from standard AAA releases.

Indie Potential On Game Pass

Screenshots of Cuphead and Ori And The Blind Forest.

Although the biggest news is always what massive title has been announced on Game Pass next, such as Call Of Duty Black Ops 6, which brought in a massive amount of newcomers to the service, there’s a whole breadth of other experiences to play on the platform.

Microsoft isn’t new to supporting indie developers, with games like Ori And the Blind Forest and Cuphead previously published by Microsoft Game Studios. As Dring explains, having these titles on Game Pass can be a massive success for these smaller games.

A collage of three roguelike video games available on Game Pass: Moonlighter, Have A Nice Death, and Slay the Spire

7 Best Roguelikes on Game Pass, Ranked

These excellent titles will give you more hours of entertainment than you can fathom.

Dring posed the question: “Try being an indie game on Xbox right now that’s not on Game Pass,” as it’s clear the service can be a considerable path for indie games to reach an audience without having to deal with other online platforms like Steam.

We know from data that there are a lot of people that only play Call of Duty. And if some of those people decided to get Call of Duty this year via Game Pass, and those very same people took the opportunity to play some other Game Pass games, games they wouldn’t have otherwise played… it’s hard to argue that’s a bad thing.

It’s a hard line to decide between, as the accessibility of Game Pass and other platforms can bring a massive audience boost, which is integral considering how large the casual gaming market has grown in recent years.

But, with some titles losing up to that 80% mark, companies may end up asking themselves, “should this really be on game pass?” Even though multiplatform releases still allow for massive standardized profits, it can still be a considerable chunk of change.

As expressed by Dring, it truly is a fine line, and on each side, there is a slope to decide between. Sure, many of us may reap the benefits of subscription services and cloud streaming, but who knows what this could bring for the future of gaming.

Your changes have been saved