The history of Game Pass since its launch in 2017 is one of ups and downs. It’s resulted in tens of millions of subscribers while delivering one of the best subscription-based packages to players. However, over time, the sustainability of the model has been called into question, whether it’s CEO Asha Sharma confirming that it fell short of targets, or reports of 30 million subscribers, significantly below former head Phil Spencer’s goal of 77 million by the end of fiscal year 2026.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that there are those within Xbox itself who aren’t fans of the model. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported on the Triple Click Podcast that, “There are a lot of people out there in studio leadership within Xbox who absolutely detest Game Pass and think it has destroyed the value of their games. They think it has taken away the value from all games in general and has been a detriment to the games industry because of how it devalues games.”
It’s hard to argue with that logic, considering Xbox itself removed day-one launches for new Call of Duty titles, starting with this year’s Modern Warfare 4. Even if it never explicitly said it’s because Game Pass is eating into player numbers, the lack of growth, combined with Call of Duty being its biggest moneymaker, would certainly indicate a lean towards sales over player numbers.
Regardless, Xbox has plenty of other titles coming to the service on day one, including Gears of War: E-Day, Fable, Clockwork Revolution, and more. And even if it eventually overturns day one releases for its first-party titles (as Schreier suggests), there’s plenty more to look forward to on the third-party side such as Beast of Reincarnation, Persona 4 Revival, and Stranger Than Heaven.
