Wait. Giving games away for “free” actually stops people from buying them instead of enticing them like Phil Spencer claimed in 2018? We\’re shocked. SHOCKED!
There’s no doubt that Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are the best deals in gaming for us consumers, but developers making these deals with Microsoft have shared some very different thoughts about it. Xbox boss Phil Spencer claimed being on Game Pass actually helped games sell more in 2018, but that’s not the case. Not anymore at least.
The fine folks over at GamesIndustry.biz have seen the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s provisional report on the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition, and it includes the following statement:
“Microsoft also submitted that its internal analysis shows a [redacted]% decline in base game sales twelve months following their addition on Game Pass.
