Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate are both incredible deals for anyone who plays more than a few games a year on Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC, especially if you’re on these platforms and play Xbox console exclusives, all of which launch right onto the subscription service. That said, since its inception, many have criticized the subscription service as not sustainable. To this end, Spencer assures those with this concern that they are wrong. Not only will the subscription be sustainable in the long run, but it’s sustainable in its current form, which is great news for those currently enjoying it.
“Yeah. I mean, you, you could do the math on [Xbox] Game Pass,” said Spencer. I guess you don’t know how many subscribers or how much each subscriber is paying, but you can make some fairly informed decisions and literally just do the math on what we think [Xbox] Game Pass could eventually be — you could do that on any part of the business. But absolutely, [Xbox] Game Pass is sustainable.”
Spencer continued:
“I love to see it growing, because I see what it does to the diversity of games that people play and the games that we can
fund to go create. And I think that’s a very magical mix. But its growth is a part of Xbox. It’s not the only thing that’s growing in Xbox. It’s not the only focus of the organization, and it, as a standalone thing, is very sustainable as it sits today, like just today. It’s sustainable. I know there’s a lot of people that like to write that we’re burning cash right now for some future pot of gold at the end. No. [Xbox[ Game Pass is very, very sustainable right now as it sits and it continues to grow.”
Of course, sustainable and profitable are two different things. From the jump and at the moment of publishing, Xbox continues to talk vaguely about the success of Xbox Game Pass and just how much money it is or isn’t making in its current form. And of course, the mathematical equation to figure this out is extremely convoluted, which perhaps explains why Xbox hasn’t talked about it very much. Business is complicated, especially when you’re factoring in things like opportunity cost.
Whatever the case, and however successful Xbox Game Pass is for Microsoft, Spencer continues to reiterate it’s sustainable in its current form. Not only does this mean it’s not going anywhere, but this seems to suggest a price increase isn’t coming either.
H/T, Axios.
