Game Pass’s profit is questioned: It’s not counting the losses of its own studio

2025-07-10 20:22:49|Myriagame |source：minecraft skins

Since Game Pass debuted in June 2017, the profitability of Game Pass has been a hot topic in the gaming industry.In the eyes of many, Microsoft can rely on its almost "burning money" to subsidize the service, but this cannot last forever - Game Pass must ultimately achieve its own profit and loss.

Over the years, Microsoft has always insisted that Game Pass is sustainable and profitable.As early as December 2019, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft's gaming department, said:

“I often hear people’s concerns, ‘Can this last? Can you really do it all the time?’ I’m going to say that Xbox Game Pass is doing really well for us and users right now. And I think the service will be more interesting with Xbox launching new consoles next year. People will start thinking, ‘Wait, I already have an entire library of games on this platform.’ We’ve never had a console that had such a rich lineup for players on the day of launch.”

However, with Game Pass user growth slowing, coupled with a series of recent studio closures and layoffs, the service has once again become the focus of doubts among industry analysts and developers.Many people believe that Microsoft may be gambled in the wrong direction, and Game Pass is not truly sustainable in the long run.

Now, Chris Dring, former editor-in-chief of GamesIndustry.biz and co-founder of The Game Business, broke the news on the X platform, sharing Microsoft's "wire" when calculating the profitability of Game Pass.

"The cost of the Game Pass business only includes the licensing fees paid to third parties, marketing expenses and the operation and maintenance fees of the service itself... By this standard, it is indeed profitable. But what Microsoft did not calculate is the potential revenue lost by the Xbox first-party game studios due to this service. If these studios also get a similar share of the revenue, then the conclusion is whether Game Pass is truly profitable."

Dring then added that he had made it clear to the source that the other party confirmed that "the cost of the first-party studio was not included."This undoubtedly makes the whole problem much more complicated, especially considering that Xbox's current first camp already includes old faces such as The Coalition and Halo Studio (formerly 343 Industries), as well as two major manufacturers with a large number of top IPs.

In this case, starting with first-party games such as Call of Duty, Diablo, and Doom will inevitably lead to revenue loss.How long can Microsoft continue to do this? Now it seems that there is still no answer.

Tech media The Verge reporter Tom Warren revealed that the troubles of Xbox are far from over:

Game Pass "false prosperity"? How much "water" is profitable?

Microsoft may be "overdrafting" first-party games

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