Giving out games as part of a subscription on day one is a sweet deal for consumers and subscribers, but how does it translate to game sales? Well, according to industry analyst and former writer at GamesIndustry.biz Chris Dring, it can seriously tank a title’s sales, at least on Xbox platforms.
Speaking in a recent Q&A, when asked how Xbox Game Pass can hurt or help sales, Dring had the following to say: “Anecdotally, games that are in Game Pass can expect to lose around 80% of its expected premium sales on Xbox. That’s the figure that gets thrown around. It’s less if it’s a big mainstream release, but generally… look at how low Hellblade 2 charted. Or where Indiana Jones came. Or even Starfield. Game Pass clearly hurt sales of those titles on Xbox.”
But, on other platforms, a Game Pass launch can actually help. “That surge in players on one Xbox can have a strong impact on sales on PlayStation, for instance,” Dring adds.
He’s personally torn on subscriptions, as while they can lead to lost revenue, some titles wouldn’t get the exposure they did without Game Pass. “We know from data that there are a lot of people that only play Call of Duty. And if some of those people decided to get Call of Duty this year via Game Pass, and those very same people took the opportunity to play some other Game Pass games, games they wouldn’t have otherwise played… it’s hard to argue that’s a bad thing.”
Where do you stand on Game Pass?