For the last few years, you can’t talk about Xbox without mentioning the future of Xbox Game Pass. As the service continues to acquire studios and games, it’s clear that its importance to Xbox and Microsoft isn’t dwindling.
In a new interview with IGN’s Kat Bailey, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said that despite recent earnings showing a decline, it’s not because of faith being lost in the platform. Instead, it’s because of a number of factors, including game releases and it being a newer type of service.
“Well, one thing with Game Pass is we’re kind of in unchartered territory in doing what we’re doing with Game Pass in the industry,” Spencer said. “So it’s harder for us to go out there and look at examples to help us gauge how fast we should be growing. We’re at an all-time high for paid subscribers, and Game Pass, it continues to grow. I’m happy with the growth.”
Regarding the 12% decline in revenue, Spencer said that the numbers are a year-over-year comparison. Because of that, it’s important to look at the surrounding reasons for the whole picture.
“Last year in that quarter, we had Age of Empires, we had Forza Horizon 5, we had Halo Infinite,” he said. “All of those did really well for us, and as we pointed out, we didn’t have that big release in that same quarter of this year.”
He added: “Our goal is to be a growing healthy business. It’s our commitment inside of Microsoft, and what we’re trying to do. And shipping great games in a regular cadence is important to that.”
Speaking of games, Spencer talked specifically about the launches of Redfall and Starfield. Those games, he says, are “really important games” for the growth of the service. Spencer believes that launching what he views to be great AAA games like those will help create more excitement and growth for Xbox Game Pass not only during launch, but moving forward.
What do you think about the future of Xbox Game Pass? For more Insider Gaming, check out our story on when Forza Motorsport will be released.
