Activision Hasn't Helped Microsoft Grow Xbox Game Pass, Says Report

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Activision Hasn't Helped Microsoft Grow Xbox Game Pass, Says Report

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Game Pass' reported failure to increase interest in Xbox hardware investment

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These are not the same things.

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Game Pass' revenue grew by 5.7% in the year to June

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Not sure what sort of increase they were looking for, but a 6% increase seems pretty good to me given the number of Activision games they've added so far.

ETA:

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A new report from The Information

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They want an email address to read this report, so that's unfortunate.

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A new report from The Information

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Is this supposed to be a credible source?

I have seen it reported places that the actually for sale like 70$ black ops 6 game, not the game pass version, has done astronomically well compared to expectations. I presume this is mostly being ps5 and pc players buying the game but ive also seen it said that the games sales on xbox consoles was stronger than anticipated given its on gamepass. CoD was always going to be a huge win at least in the short term of 5 ish years for Microsoft. The people who objected to the buying of activision because they thought it would make cod a console exclusive are dumb and i told them that at the time. There were many reasons to object but that wasnt one because it would never happen.

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Damn that is a massive miss.

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I find it hard to believe they projected at 11% increase when they've only released maybe one Activision game per month so far. They'd have needed to drop the whole library all at once to get those kind of numbers.

Wish I could read the actual report so I could know where they got their numbers from, but I'm not giving that shady website my email address.

At the time of purchase, entry into the mobile space was given as the primary reason for the purchase. They also said ABK having actual assets as opposed to just IP was part of the decision.

I doubt it is shady as sourced for a Newsweek article, I used my fake burner email and it says the numbers are from security filings for CEO Nadella.

Other notes

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Gaming was the only section of his pay evaluation that fell short of Microsoft’s goals. Meanwhile, in the three months ending Sept. 30, Microsoft indicated that its gaming division didn’t grow at all without the first-time contribution of Activision revenue in the quarter.

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Several leading game studios have resisted Microsoft’s pitch that they should put their titles on Game Pass in exchange for fees that Microsoft offers to pay to the gaming studios, according to people familiar with the discussions.

“I just think the majority of the game market doesn’t really want a game pass” like the one Microsoft is offering, said Gus Zinn, a portfolio manager of the Macquarie Science and Technology Fund, which holds roughly $400 million in Microsoft stock and has kept its Microsoft position roughly flat over the past year.

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Before completing the Activision acquisition, Microsoft targeted having over 100 million Game Pass subscribers by 2030, meaning it would have to triple its current subscriber base in five years—or grow at a rate of 40% annually, which would be faster than its rate of growth every year since 2020.

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Exactly

I have been PlayStation all my life except for the 360 era we had both. Now I have a ps5, pc, and switch. The console wars are fricking gay as you said and are used to divide us so we can’t channel appropriate anger at studios and publishers when needed. Do I hate a lot of shite Xbox does? Yes I do. I really really do and I would never even consider a console from them because they’ve basically made it clear their future is 3rd party publishing, which tails off the thing I hate about them most. Consolidating. It make Sonys dumb asses feel like they had to do some shite so they bought bungies broke arse for billions and that situation is also wrapped up in 400m at least on concord.

None of this means I want Xbox to fail. Imo that would be catastrophic because Sonys way too fricking smug as it is. I’m also generally going to always be against exclusive games, unless it’s first party. Anything second or third should be on all platforms it aims to come to within 6-12 months.

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If it is true, my take is that Microsoft is stupid to expect that sort of return before putting all the Activision games on the service.

If they had dropped all the ABK games on Game Pass on day one, then I might understand expecting 11%, but imo a 6% increase should be seen as a success given the minimal number of games that have been added so far

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until they drop ALL the COD titles onto the GamePass, I’m not sure why they care what the increase % is. It’s irrelevant.

agreed.



I have Game Pass. And there hasn’t been anything of note released in months, minus Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. Maybe UFC5? Sure they added BLOPs 6, but despite the hype it’s been an incredibly disappointing iteration of COD. Mehh. None of the above would/should drive traffic like the old CODs.

And COD: Black Ops 6 is in such a pathetic state right now between cheaters, dogshit Warzone innovation and integration, server issues, and overtuned SBMM that people are leaving that game in droves. Player count has plummeted, not increased. If M$ were to force Activision’s hand and flip the switch on just BLOPs 2 being on Game Pass, I guarantee they would inherently see an uptick in sign ups.

BUT I’m not sure they are going to tho, because they don’t want kneecap Black Ops 6 (even tho it may be too late to save). It puts COD in a real bad spot, one they’ve rightfully earned to be in.