The total number of Game Pass subscribers has dropped back down to 30 million, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. This is a loss of around 4 million compared to publicised 2024 numbers.
Microsoft no longer shares exact subscriber numbers, but the drop is notable for a number of reasons. Primarily, 30 million falls well below Microsoft’s ambitious goal to reach around 77 million by July 2026. That revelation was made during the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s investigation into Microsoft’s decision to acquire Activision Blizzard in 2023. A leaked slide showed Microsoft had the even more ambitious goal of reaching 100 million paid Game Pass members by 2030.
Last year, Microsoft raised the price of Game Pass Ultimate by almost 50 percent, rearranging and renaming some of the service’s various tiers in the process. Although Microsoft did not explicitly state it at the time, the move was seen as the cost of including Call of Duty into the service from day-one – the day a new COD game launched. But that price increase would end up being catastrophic for Microsoft, which said that it caused the loss of millions of subscribers.
In April, Microsoft attempted to rectify the mistake, cutting the price of Game Pass and removing new Call of Duty games from being day-one offerings. Call of Duty games now join the line-up one year after their initial release. This was one of the first decisions made by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who’s spoken about Game Pass’ declining membership and expensive price before, in internal memos.
In this week’s memo to staff that announced Microsoft’s decision to cut 3200 jobs from the Xbox division, Sharma yet again cited Game Pass growth troubles as one of the reasons behind her decision, stating that the service “did not grow at the pace we expected”.
The Netflix-style game subscription service has been criticised by rival PlayStation as being “value destructive”, though some developers have disputed that claim. PlayStation has its own subscription service, of course, in PS Plus, but games rarely launch into it on day one. Instead, it’s mostly a way to access back catalogue and classic titles.
