As for its profitability, I have to wonder how that’s calculated. Say Halo Infinite costs $100 million to make. It launches on Game Pass. Is there some master spreadsheet where total Game Pass revenue is calculated against the costs of the games that launch on it? Where do people who
do buy actual copies of the game fit in? Where do microtransaction sales go? What happens when it’s not just one mega game launching on Game Pass each year, but a few, as Microsoft’s studio purchases start mass producing offerings?
And would Microsoft be making dramatically
more profit if they were launching games off-service? It’s just extremely hard to see day one launches for Call of Duty, Diablo 4, Starfield or Elder Scrolls ever adding enough new Game Pass subs to out-earn what those games would have made as $60-70 box copies. Good for the player, I suppose, as a great way to tempt everyone to join Xbox’s side, but the math of it continues to seem really strange.
In any case, Game Pass is still growing, and Microsoft has some big games coming in 2023. Maybe these growth expectations are unreasonable, but I do wonder about the ultimate long term prospects of Game Pass, and Phil
also hints that a price increase is likely coming.