Xbox Game Pass Subscribers Grow to 18 Million

Microsoft has announced strong growth to its Xbox Game Pass service, with an 18 million subscriber count, according to its latest earnings call.

As reported by Eurogamer, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass has seen an increase in subscribers, totalling an additional three million users signing up for its Netflix-style gaming catalogue. In September of 2020, Microsoft revealed that 15 million subscribers were readily signed up and taking advantage of the growing lineup. Additionally, in April of last year, a reported 11 million were subscribed to the service.

Microsoft has been making aggressive moves to help grow the service, including partnering with publishers and acquiring studios to build out the portfolio of games. This includes rolling EA Play, which gives access to EA published games, into Xbox Game Pass. Additionally, strong AAA titles such as Bungie’s Destiny 2 and Remedy Entertainment’s Control have been inducted into the service.

Microsoft is also strengthening the service by acquiring ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Game Studios and its other development houses to bring the likes of DOOM, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, and other tentpole franchises to Xbox Game Pass.

Additionally, Microsoft announced that it was seeing strong demand for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles, which launched in November of last year. Microsoft typically withholds total units sold. However, retailers are still struggling to keep up with demands as consoles typically sell out shortly after restocking online.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also announced that Xbox Live has more than 100 million active users. This announcement comes days after Microsoft proposed an increase to its Xbox Live Gold subscription price. The increase would effectively double the cost. Due to community reactions, Microsoft ultimately rolled back its decision. The company will be leaving it at the current price layout while dropping the Xbox Live Gold requirement to play Free-to-Play games such as Fortnite or the upcoming Halo Infinite standalone multiplayer.

Xbox Game Pass is available on both Xbox and PC for $11 CAD a month. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes the perks of Xbox Live Gold and access to its xCloud streaming platform is available for $16 CAD. Xbox Game Pass will be receiving an anticipated exclusive title this week, being Bloober Team’s The Medium, which launches on January 28th on console and PC.