With Starfield set for release and updates on multiple other first-party titles likely on the way, 2022 will be the year for Xbox Game Pass.
We’ve all seen the threads from prominent gaming journalists and personalities, as well as developers, about Xbox Game Pass being “the best deal in gaming.” And for what it’s worth, all of that grandstanding on social media is true. Xbox Game Pass is a pretty incredible deal, one that offers subscribers access to a constantly changing library of games for a decent cost. While it feels as though the service is everywhere now — from social media timelines to commercials for games that proudly announce they’ll be available the day they launch via Game Pass — it hasn’t met Microsoft’s expectations. According to a recent report from Axios, subscriber growth for the service is a whopping 11% below where the company wants it to be. Over the course of 12 months ending on June 30, Xbox Game Pass’ subscriber count grew 37%, a number that should have Sony asking itself why it hasn’t implemented a similar service. But that’s still far below the goal set by Microsoft, which wanted to see a total gain in subscribers of 48%. Suffice it to say that someone at the top isn’t happy.
