In a report towards the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft has confirmed Xbox Game Pass has had an impact on overall game sales since it launched in 2023. As surfaced by GameSpot, a current CMA report claimed Microsoft’s ‘internal analysis shows a [redacted]% decline in base game sales twelve months following their addition on Game Pass.’
While a precise figure was not revealed, it was considered significant enough to become notable, and was listed as a contributing factor in deciding whether Microsoft’s potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard was anti-competitive.
As stated later in the report, Xbox Game Pass does definitively cannibalise outright purchases of games, thus leading to lower sales totals for Microsoft. While players continue to purchase games while using the Xbox Game Pass, it does appear the speed has slowed, since Xbox Game Pass often includes major first-party titles at launch, for a minimal subscription fee.
The difference between paying AU $99.95 for a single game, or paying AU $10.95 for any single monthly subscription which allows use of a vast array of games, is important – particularly in modern economic circumstances. This shift in game purchases, while seemingly revealed the very first time here, is really a logical conclusion.
As GameSpot notes, this reveal is also at odds with previous sentiments expressed by Microsoft.
As Microsoft Head of Gaming Phil Spencer said inside a 2023 interview, ‘When you place a game like Forza Horizon 4 on Game Pass, you instantly convey more players of the game, that is actually leading to more sales of the game. Some people have questioned that, however when State of Decay 2 launched, you saw, should you looked in america at the NPD, you saw this game selling really well the month it launched on Game Pass.’
While the CMA noted that certain players would still purchase games beyond those available on Xbox Game Pass, the decline in game sales for titles included on Xbox Game Pass was consistently referred to in the report. This suggests that while players are utilizing hybrid methods to play games on Xbox, Xbox Game Pass is actually removing potential sales from the company.
The service is an enormous boon to fans, and provides great choices for playing the latest games at reasonable prices – but it has contributed to notable, significant declines for Microsoft.
We’ll likely learn more about this revelation as the CMA continues its investigation, and also the FTC kicks off a similar anti-competitive lawsuit in the usa.
