Xbox Game Pass has become a hot topic over the last few years, and there has been a lot of conjecture about how successful the service has been for Microsoft and for developers. While Xbox has not directly provided the public with any new figures, Game Pass revenue for 2021 has been revealed by regulators for Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (also known as CADE). Earlier this week, the group signaled its approval for Microsoft’s proposed purchase of Activision Blizzard alongside a document using industry data to support its findings. In the document, CADE indicates that Xbox Game Pass saw $2.9 billion in revenue in 2021.
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According to that same report, Xbox brought in a total of $16.28 billion in revenue last year between hardware, software, and Game Pass subscriptions. Without additional figures from Microsoft, it’s impossible to determine how much profit Xbox makes on Game Pass, but the fact that it makes up 18% of the company’s overall revenue is pretty impressive. As Tweaktown‘s reporting notes, these figures are exclusively for the console version of Game Pass, and does not include revenue from Xbox Game Pass for PC.
One of the biggest concerns gamers have had about Game Pass is that it could have a negative impact on actual game sales. Different studios will surely have different experiences with the platform, but many indie developers have seen positive results from Game Pass. Recently Mike Rose of No More Robots revealed on Twitter that Let’s Build a Zoo had seen more than 250,000 players on Game Pass since debuting on the service at the end of September. Rose also noted that many Game Pass subscribers have told him that they tried the game on Game Pass and then went on to buy it on Nintendo Switch. Obviously Xbox would prefer to keep those users on its own platforms, but the anecdote shows that Game Pass is helping to sell games, regardless of which platform it gets sold on.ย
Are you an Xbox Game Pass subscriber? What do you think of this revenue? Letus know inthe comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
[H/T: Tweaktown]
