Former Xbox head Phil Spencer built much of the company's long term strategy around Xbox Game Pass. The idea was that acquiring major game studios and launching their titles in the subscription service on day one would significantly increase the subscriber base and drive steady business growth. However, those expectations have not been met.
During the announcement of the company's latest restructuring, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that Game Pass has not been growing at the pace Microsoft originally expected.
Additional details were revealed in a report from The Wall Street Journal. According to the publication, Microsoft projected that the Activision Blizzard acquisition would help Xbox Game Pass reach 77 million subscribers by 2026, largely thanks to the addition of Call of Duty. Instead, the service currently has around 30 million subscribers, roughly the same number it had several years ago. On top of that, new Call of Duty releases will now arrive on Game Pass with a significant delay.
The numbers also raise questions. Back in 2023, reports claimed Game Pass had surpassed 30 million subscribers, while Microsoft officially announced 34 million subscribers in 2024. This suggests that either previous figures were overstated or the service has experienced a major decline in subscribers over the past year.
Microsoft previously aimed to grow Xbox Game Pass to 100 million subscribers by 2030. Based on the current figures, it remains unclear whether Asha Sharma will be able to achieve that goal.
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