Xbox Game Pass Accounts for 60% of the Gaming Subscription Market - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 30 March 2022 / 5,424 Views
Gaming subscription services account for around four percent of the total gaming revenue in the North American and European gaming markets, according to Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis and reported by Axios.
The figure comes out to around $3.7 billion of the nearly $81 billion of revenue generated from games. The figure includes physical game sales, digital game sales, DLC, and microtransactions.
Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass has a commanding lead in the video game subscription service space with around 60 percent of said market. The service has grown to over 25 million subscribers with members paying up to $15 per month.
The music industry in contrast to video games is dominated by streaming services as it accounted for 83 percent of the revenue generated in the US in 2021, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
More Articles
25 million subscribers in less than 5 years with, let's be honest, very limited first party output, and still able to make up that much of this growing aspect of the gaming industry is impressive.
Really makes you wonder what these numbers will look like in another 5 years time when Xbox will then have had a plethora of Acti-Blizz, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios first party titles released on the service. Not to mention Game Pass being more readily available in almost every country by then and whatever 3rd party deals are made. PC Game Pass is just now being added in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. So there is still a ton of growth to be made.
I wish it was more clear what definition of "subscription gaming market" they're using here.
Gamepass is a fantastic service
"The figure comes out to around $3.7 billion of the nearly $81 billion of revenue generated from games. The figure includes physical game sales, digital game sales, DLC, and microtransactions. "
I'm confused. The figure being $81 billion or $3.7 billion? Why would subscription service revenue also include those things? I assume not and the $81 billion includes those. If that's the case then:
25 million subscribers to Gamepass
Gamepass has $60% of $3.7 billion market, which is $2.2 billion.
That would mean MS is averaging about $88 a year, or $7.40 a month from their subscribers. Or they are averaging that same amount for subscribers and the dlc/games they purchase.
Either way, seems like the whole argument about most Gamepass subscribers being the $1 a month deal group is out the window.
That's not what I was asking. The first line mentions "The figure", referring to the 3.7b number, and the second sentence also refers to "The figure", so I assumed it would be referring to the 3.7b number, but why would they lump physical game sales, digital game sales, DLC, and microtransactions into the subscription number?
Honestly game pass was never for me for a while till 2020 .then I was going on and off till I permanently added my card as of January 2022. Hell big bonus that I get to watch halo show as a incentive. But not just that I do prefer to own my game physically hands down but I at least get to try them on game pass first before I potentially waste money. Like for example forza horizon 5 (my first and only forza game I bought) and halo infinite. I can afford to lose money on a shitty game here and there but I like to minimize my loses by using game pass first.
I'm a little confuse the wording. Im not sure if 8t says gamepass has 60% of users or 60% of the 3.7b. Market could be either one.
Good lord. This is paraphrasing an already speculative and slightly misleading article, that, in turn, is inferring a great deal of information from the figures of a market researcher. It's like 2 steps removed from the origin, with 2 total different takes.
This is literally false. Sony gives us their PS Plus numbers and we know they have over 45m subs on there.
I'm just guessing that Axios is primarily focusing on revenue, and most likely, most of the 45m subs are annual subscriptions only since annual was primarily marketed for so many years, so therefore, revenue would be lower compared to subscriptions nowadays that prefer to be monthly like GP.
This will definitely change when the new 3 tier PS Plus system is introduced.
Which is likely why the article is being released now. Gotta give Game Pass it's props and moment in the spotlight before Plus takes the crown, for at least a while.
Should also help give Game Pass a boost before the new Plus service takes off, driving competition.
"As of December 2020, Microsoft's online gaming service had approximately 100 million monthly active users, up from just under 40 million at the beginning of 2016."
XBOX LIVE = 100 million subscribers
XBOX GAME PASS = 25 million subscribers
WOW
Going to prove that Sony can easily be profitable with Day 1 major title releases on a Subscription service for their Biggest games.
Xbox. 25 million subs.....x $10 x 12 months = $3 billions dollars a year for subscription ALONE.
If Sony did the same Subscription service, for eg, they would likely soon have 50 million subs, could easily charge $15 a month, and that = $9 Billion dollars a year, For subscriptions alone. Which doesn't include, Game sales, DLC,.......
Still believe the nonsense that Jim Lying is sprouting saying 9 billion a year isn't enough to make good games on a rental service. Don't make me laugh.
I think a lot of people assume that people buy games mostly at full cost and that they buy many games a year. Reality is the average console gamer spends about $84 a year on games.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1200127/frequency-purchases-us-adults-video-games-coronavirus/
Most subscribers are paying the full $10-15 a month for Gamepass now, so that's $100-150 a year. MS doesn't care about the people like me, who would have easily spent more than $84 a year to buy their games. They care about the average , and they are now making more from the average consumer than they would be without GP.
This is specifically referring to a subscription services that gives you access to a catalog of games. This comparison includes Game Pass, Playstation Now, Apple Arcade, Ubisoft Plus, EA Play, Google Play Pass, and other.
https://twitter.com/DaveLeeFT/status/1506740966639628288/photo/1
I haven't been this confused by a gaming article in years!
Isn't ps plus a subscription service, we kill xbox. We have 100 million subscribers to xbox 25 million. Please
That makes sense. "Gaming subscription market" is a fairly vague term that could cover a lot of things, even something like a WoW subscription.
Essay Pro