Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service has crossed 18 million subscribers, CEO Satya Nadella announced during the company’s earnings calls today. That’s 3 million new subscribers compared to the 15 million number the company shared in September. At that rate, you could also say that Xbox Game Pass has been gaining 1M new subscribers every month for the past three months.
Satya Nadella also announced today that Xbox Live now has more 100 million monthly active users, a number that takes into account Xbox, PC, and mobile activity. Overall, the past quarter was a very good one for Xbox, with Xbox content and services revenue seeing a 40% YoY increase, and gaming revenue surpassing $5 billion for the first time.
As expected, Microsoft didn’t share any sales numbers for its new Xbox Series X|S consoles, but Satya Nadella said during the earning calls that the launch of the Xbox Series X and S was the most successful in the company’s history, with “the most devices ever sold in a launch month.” However, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood warned that Xbox Series X|S supply will continue to be constrained through the end of this quarter due to “significant demand” for the new consoles.
If Microsoft didn’t have a big exclusive game launching with its new consoles in November, Xbox Game Pass is slowly but surely becoming Xbox’s true killer app. All new Xbox Game Studios titles are now launching on Game Pass on day one, but we’re also seeing more and more high-profile third-party games follow such as The Medium, one of the first Xbox Series X|S exclusive games to launch this year.
Microsoft has been pretty aggressive with its Xbox Game Pass pricing since launch, and a recent limited deal allowed new subscribers to get their first 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $1. Microsoft’s recent attempt to double the price of Xbox Live Gold may well be a source of concern for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, though Xbox head Phil Spencer said last year that the current pricing Xbox Game Pass was “completely sustainable.”
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