For years now, Microsoft has been marketing and pushing the growth of its Xbox Game Pass platform. From major day-one launches to $1 deals to entice players to try the service, the company has done plenty to grow its user base up to, and over, a reportedly 30 million members. That has led to concerns, however, that the company might look to make games exclusive to Xbox Game Pass as a way to get even higher membership numbers.
Luckily, though, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
In an interview with Japanese publication Game Watch, Xbox boss Phil Spencer was asked about the possibility of games launching exclusively on Game Pass. It’s an idea he shot down immediately.
“No. That’s not it,” Spencer said. “What we want to offer is choice. Xbox isn’t just about Xbox Game Pass. The real success of Xbox is that more people play Xbox, whether it’s on Xbox consoles, on PC, in the cloud, or on other consoles.
“We want to grow the community that plays Xbox. I have no intention of doing anything that would hinder that.”
Xbox instead will look for different ways to grow its Game Pass membership numbers. Based on recent comments from Spencer himself, the service will have to grow sooner rather than later. Otherwise, Spencer has said that Microsoft could leave the gaming business altogether.
Recently, Microsoft ended the Xbox Live Gold plan for players, instead replacing it with a new Xbox Game Pass Core plan. With that change, Xbox Game Pass numbers should be expected to grow based on Core now being included. However, what Microsoft will ultimately want is for players to sign up for PC Game Pass or upgrade to Game Pass Ultimate.
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