Game Pass is Growing Slower Than Microsoft Expected
Game Pass is growing all the time, but slower than Microsoft would like it to. The company has admitted that it hasn't been able to meet its target growth rate for subscribers to the service.
- In the period 07.01.2020 - 06.30.2021 the number of Game Pass subscribers increased by 37.48%;
- Microsoft's internal targets were 47.79%;
- One reason for the disappointing results may be the delayed release of Halo Infinite;
- The rate of subscriber growth is the only criterion from the games department that results in bonuses for executives, which suggests that Game Pass is one of Microsoft's absolute priorities.
The financial results documents submitted by Microsoft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission included an interesting piece of information. The corporation reported that between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, the number of Game Pass subscribers increased by 37.48%. This is an impressive result, but Microsoft was hoping for more. After all, the company's internal target was 47.79%. By comparison, in the previous 12-month period, the increase was 85.75%, while the target was 71%.
It should be noted, however, that the aforementioned 47.79% target was set in the first half of last year. Back then, Halo Infinite was still scheduled to debut for Xbox Series X/S launch. The game is supposed to be made available in Game Pass and will certainly encourage many people to use this service.
Unfortunately, the documents lacked the most interesting detail, namely the number of subscribers. The company has not disclosed this data for a long time.
The last number provided was 18 million in January this year. At the end of September there were speculations that the website currently has 30 million subscribers, but it is difficult to say whether they have coverage in reality. According to alternative sources, Game Pass currently boasts 25-30 million subscribers.
However, another aspect of Microsoft's report is worth noting. The fact that there was a projected increase in Game Pass users is due to the fact that reaching the goal would be rewarded with additional shares for employees in managerial positions.
This is the only target for the games division that was expected to yield such bonuses. This suggests that Game Pass is one of the absolute priorities for Microsoft and the development of this service may even be considered by the company as more important than Xbox consoles.
