Entertaining the direction the industry is heading can easily be acquired from what players are paying for. While games directly is the answer, it is the means in which games are accessed. Rather than individually purchasing titles, digital versions and subscriptions are becoming increasingly popular. Among the handful of prominent services, Xbox Game Pass is evident to be leading this model.
Despite the shortcoming of Xbox last console generation with the Xbox One, Microsoft did leave on a strong note with its video game library subscription heading in the Xbox Series lifespan. Previously this January, Microsoft confirmed more than 25 million users are actively subscribed to Xbox Game Pass to some degree. Additionally, 2021 was said to provide more than $6,000 worth of titles in that year alone to users for the subscription.
In a new report from Ampere Analysis, it is revealed that Xbox Game Pass is strongly leading in this field compared to competitors like PlayStation Now, Apple Arcade, and Google Play Pass. San Francisco Financial Times corresponder Dave Lee provided a slide from Ampere Analysis on the topic via Twitter:
Xbox Game Pass (all versions) had 60% share of the total Western market in 2021. Microsoft’s dominance of the games content subscription opportunity is driven to a large extent by its catalogue strategy and its inclusion of all new first-party releases and increasing amounts of third-party ‘day one’ releases,” Ampere Analysis’ Pier Harding-Rolls writes.
“The release schedule of Xbox Game Studios coupled with increasing amounts of new third-party releases will drive growth of Game Pass in 2022. Eventually, we’ll get one or more big third-party franchise releases going straight into Game Pass; we could see that happen this year.” The report also acknowledges the rumored PlayStation ‘Spartacus’ service as well.
Similarly to Xbox Game Pass, this new unannounced subscription is to be a direct answer to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. With a structure more alike Nintendo Switch Online, new tiers are said to be added with increased benefits. Currently, PlayStation Now is said to be only welcoming over 3.2 million users despite the 2:1 user base comparing Xbox One hardware sales to PlayStation 4.
While service such as Xbox Game Pass is certainly illustrated to front capital ahead of results – much like the video game industry as a whole – Microsoft is said to be strategic with its spending. In a previous interview, Xbox Gaming CEO Phil Spencer explained that the firm is not simply “burning money” for the service. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you surprised by the outcome so far for Xbox Game Pass?
Source: Ampere Analysis
