There are further signs of Xbox Game Pass underperforming as Microsoft plans to start charging its own employees for it.
Since it refuses to share subscriber numbers, only Microsoft truly knows how well Xbox Game Pass is performing. If you take its latest financials at face value, it’s apparently doing very well, with Starfield encouraging ‘better than expected subscriber growth.’
However, it’s also been implied that Game Pass missed its yearly growth targets for the third time in a row. It’s also worth remembering that part of the motivation behind Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard was to bolster the Game Pass library, but games like Call Of Duty aren’t expected to come to the service until 2024.
Now it’s said that Microsoft is taking away its free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefit from most of its 238,000 employees.
According to The Verge, the plan is to remove the benefit in January 2024. This won’t apply to any Xbox employees, but anyone who’s not directly involved with Xbox or Microsoft Gaming will need to start paying, albeit at a discount through the company’s internal store.
Unsurprisingly, some employees aren’t happy about the proposed change. Internal complaints soon reached the ears of Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who claims he was unaware of this and intends on looking into things.
Whether or not Spencer will manage to reverse the situation, and let employees keep their Game Pass benefit, is unclear but it does contribute to the idea that Microsoft is desperate for new paying customers.
It’s not the only one though. PlayStation Plus is also believed to have plateaued in subscriber numbers, which suggests the whole concept of subscription-based gaming is flawed.
Given executive bonuses have been tied to Game Pass’ growth, the fact that it keeps missing its targets is bound to have the higher-ups in Microsoft upset and could encourage more sweeping changes.
The cost of Game Pass has already gone up, the length of its £1 trial was cut in half, and there’s been chatter of Microsoft pulling a Netflix and introducing a cheaper tier that includes ads.
As a reminder, the last recorded subscriber numbers for Game Pass were 25+ million in 2022 and Spencer has gone on record to say that if they don’t hit 110 million by 2030, Microsoft will quit gaming entirely… although he was probably exaggerating.
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