Xbox spends over $1 Billion a year to bring titles to Game Pass

Ever since Xbox Game Pass was first introduced, the game subscription service has become Microsoft’s primary strategy for the Xbox ecosystem, adding a bunch of games on a monthly basis – both first and third-party. Thanks to an interview with CEO of Gaming Phil Spencer, it has now been revealed just how much the company spends on acquiring these Game Pass deals.

In a lengthy interview conducted by Windows Central, Phil Spencer sat down to discuss many different aspects of Xbox’s business, including the likelihood of Game Pass coming to PlayStation and Nintendo, the Activision-Blizzard acquisition and more. When asked about the latter and its potential for the future of the service, Spencer revealed an interesting statistic, saying:

“We have a service that is financially viable, meaning it makes money, in Game Pass. We've put a lot of money into the market, over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games coming into Game Pass. What we see in Game Pass is a service that supports all kinds of games, from the biggest games, to the unknown indie games that you didn't know you would love until you played it. If you're an individual publisher, you really have to think about ‘how do you get everybody playing my game.'”

Spencer continued, “I think a lot of the publishers are naturally drawn to making games that are big hit games, as big as possible. We want to do that as well, of course. But because we have a platform, and we have a subscription service, having people play more and stay engaged on the platform, frankly, regardless of the types of games they're playing, is a very viable part of our strategy.”

While we have been privy to some details surrounding the cost of bringing 3rd party titles to Game Pass in the past (thanks to leaks as part of the aforementioned ABK acquisition), this statement seems to be the first time that Spencer has given a direct and official figure regarding the money spent for such deals.

That said, with Microsoft now owning Activision-Blizzard-King, it will be interesting to see whether such 3rd-party deals will continue at a similar cadence to prior years – or whether these games will be supplemented by now-first-party ABK games. We will have to wait and see.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of Game Pass in 2023? Has it been money well spent? Do you think the service will improve or get worse over time? Let us know down below.

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