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Microsoft: Game Pass is only profitable if you don’t account for game development.

Posted on 7/7/25 at 6:34 pm
Posted by finchmeister08
Member since Mar 2011
39730 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 6:34 pm
Posted by CornDogCologne
Mental Defective
Member since Nov 2007
8857 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 6:36 pm to
The Xbox gaming division has been such an embarrassment.

Feel like a fool for buying their products post Xbox 360. the series x is the end of the line for me.
This post was edited on 7/7/25 at 8:13 pm
Posted by TideSaint
Hill Country
Member since Sep 2008
83174 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 6:49 pm to
Full disclosure, I'm a Xbox guy. Haven't owned a Playstation since PS2.

But, I remember watching an E3 or some other gaming convention years ago right after the Orlando gay club shooting.

Phil Spencer takes the stage to announce the upcoming Xbox lineup and makes a pre-statement about supporting the people affected by the shooting.

He said tradegy instead of tragedy.

fricking idiot.
Posted by hg
Member since Jun 2009
127629 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:25 pm to
Seems like there hasn’t been any positive news on the side of Xbox in awhile and it’s just slowly circling the drain.
Posted by chadr07
Pineville, Louisiana
Member since Jan 2015
12717 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:35 pm to
There is plenty of good games on there that I play. Idk what people are complaining about
Posted by Carson123987
Middle Court at the Rec
Member since Jul 2011
67797 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 9:34 pm to
They should remake the Tom Cruise movie All The Right Moves but starring Xbox execs and call it All The Wrong Moves
This post was edited on 7/7/25 at 9:39 pm
Posted by Blitzed
Member since Oct 2009
21998 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 9:38 pm to
quote:

Seems like there hasn’t been any positive news on the side of Xbox in awhile and it’s just slowly circling the drain.


Well there has been good news….Sony is bringing over some of their exclusives…so Xbox actually has some decent games now…

I actually feel bad for the xbox defenders…I don’t even care to troll them anymore.
Posted by finchmeister08
Member since Mar 2011
39730 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 10:15 pm to
quote:

They should remake the Tom Cruise movie All The Right Moves but starring Xbox execs and call it All The Wrong Moves


Posted by DMagic
#ChowderPosse
Member since Aug 2010
49924 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 10:47 pm to
As an original Xbox adoptee way back in 01 it pains me to see how far it’s fallen. When they came out with the controller S after the Duke it was quite literally perfection.
Posted by Carson123987
Middle Court at the Rec
Member since Jul 2011
67797 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 10:52 pm to
360 controller is the greatest of all time
Posted by DMagic
#ChowderPosse
Member since Aug 2010
49924 posts
Posted on 7/7/25 at 10:56 pm to
Yep they streamlined the controller s and removed the black and white buttons(which I loved as a teenager). Another thing they tinkered with and ruined. The Xbox one controller felt like a big step down
Posted by Carson123987
Middle Court at the Rec
Member since Jul 2011
67797 posts
Posted on 7/8/25 at 8:05 am to
MS reached out to ol boy and he's now walking it back
Posted by imjustafatkid
Alabama
Member since Dec 2011
62677 posts
Posted on 7/8/25 at 9:28 am to
Dude they cited came back and clarified his comments. He is claiming he didn't say Game Pass isn't profitable if you don't account for game development. He said each game has its own accounting separate from Game Pass. He also is now saying his sources tell him Game Pass is profitable even if you apply all of those amounts to Game Pass.

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quote:

Ok, I need to correct/clarify something. First, Xbox Game Pass is profitable, even when you factor in the lost sales for its first-party teams, sources who would know have told me.

Over 18 months ago, I checked with Xbox about what’s included in the Game Pass P&L. Basically, I was looking to see if Game Pass’s costs factor in the impact to unit sales of their internal studios. I was told that first-party games have their own P&L separate to Game Pass as they make money via other means. I felt this piece of internal accountancy might mean Game Pass is profitable, but it sure does put pressure on the margins for its internal games and POSSIBLY means some studios don’t make as much profit (or any profit at all).

That doesn’t actually matter in real terms, but seeing the impact Game Pass was having on first-party games, and the amount of money Xbox was spending on studios, I wanted to check if the full impact of the service was being considered in their ‘Game Pass is profitable’ line.

(This was before Xbox started publishing fully on PS5. Studios can now make stronger margins on premium sales as a result of that move)

But regardless to all that. sources have reached out to tell me that even when you include lost revenue associated with first-party party games (not just unit sales, but microtransactions), Game Pass is still profitable. So… that’s great!
This post was edited on 7/8/25 at 9:32 am
Posted by imjustafatkid
Alabama
Member since Dec 2011
62677 posts
Posted on 7/8/25 at 9:34 am to
quote:

MS reached out to ol boy and he's now walking it back


I don't think he's walking anything back. His later "clarification" statement is completely in line with this Tweet that was shared earlier in this thread. I think people misunderstood what he was saying and read more into it than was actually there, because they want a specific outcome to be true even though it very obviously isn't.

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This post was edited on 7/8/25 at 9:38 am
Posted by DoomGuy504
Member since May 2024
341 posts
Posted on 7/8/25 at 11:27 am to
quote:

There is plenty of good games on there that I play. Idk what people are complaining about



Gamepass has been awesome. I probably won't buy the next gen but that's something I won't lose sleep over.
Posted by DarthRebel
Tier Five is Alive
Member since Feb 2013
24965 posts
Posted on 7/8/25 at 12:28 pm to
Ah, a shite on Xbox thread, very original for here

It would be better if they could show their work, even if he is coming back and clarifying how it was out of context.

Look's like MSFT gaming division had a record $21.52B in FY24. Gamepass is lumped into Content & Services and that was $18.58B of it. In Jan 2025 MSFT reported
https://tech4gamers.com/game-pass-new-quarterly-record/
quote:


Xbox Game Pass has hit a new milestone during Q2 2025 and set a new record for revenue.

The overall subscribers for the service have now grown by 30%, which is a huge gain.

The Xbox brand generated $6.58 billion in revenue, leading to its second-biggest holiday quarter.


Microsoft is screwing up an ton, but it is not Game Pass. They are bloated company in every division and need a proper gutting still.

Microsoft needs to go all in making the next Xbox version a platform agnostic game layer. Have it play console and PC games. That is the rumor we all know, hopefully they do not screw it up.

Posted by hawgfaninc
https://youtu.be/torc9P4-k5A
Member since Nov 2011
53675 posts
Posted on 7/8/25 at 3:48 pm to
quote:

The statement is false and misleading.
Microsoft have responded that Game Pass profitability claim does include first-party lost revenue.
Posted by Stuckinthe90s
Dallas, TX
Member since Apr 2013
2780 posts
Posted on 7/8/25 at 6:12 pm to
Microsoft’s problem has been for the last 10+ years and continues to be that they have spent money acquiring studios while not understanding at all how to managing studios in terms of budget or timeline. This has been apparent in the Spencer era as he has bragged about giving creatives the freedom to make the games they want, but there has to be balance to that to make a game timely and in a certain amount of budget. When the creatives couldn’t manage budgets of timelines on their own they got slashed, but in the rest of the gaming industry that is managed by the publisher. In Microsoft’s case they didn’t have a real publisher offer until they bought activision blizzard for record amounts of money. I assume part of the reason they didn’t this was to gain abilities to manage studios better. Turns out they bought the wrong publisher, one that was really only good at publishing the same game every year with minimal updates. They still do not have a publishing arm that can take a new IP from a story board to a sales catalogue.
This post was edited on 7/8/25 at 6:13 pm
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