Xbox Game Pass may cost Microsoft up to 80% in premium sales. Could this impact their platform exclusivity strategy or not?

Xbox Game Pass subscriptions can give players an easy way to access tons of games, but it may result in a massive loss of actual game sales.

A journalist and market data expert has suggested that Game Pass launches help boost PS5 game sales more than they help Xbox. Christopher Dring, formerly of GameIndustry.biz, revealed during a Q&A session with Install Base Forum that games launching on Microsoft’s subscription service can lose up to 80% of their expected premium sales on Xbox.

Microsoft reveals its first "coming soon" announcement of 2025 by showcasing several games coming to Xbox Game Pass in early January.

With the massive deals launched through Game Pass, some releases lose up to 80% of profits they may have earned otherwise.

A number of changes have been made to Xbox Game Pass Quests, opening them up to PC Game Pass users, but restricting them for users under 18.

Microsoft has announced the next round of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass in January. The list features some titles returning to Game Pass, as well as some being moved into the service’s Game Pass Standard tier,

Now that Activision Blizzard is under the Microsoft umbrella, the publisher’s biggest franchise is part of Game Pass. And Black Ops 6 is the first new release to debut on the subscription service. That includes all of the game’s various modes: the cinematic single-player campaign, and multiplayer outings like Zombies.

In addition to allowing players to stream Xbox Game Pass titles from a variety of devices, Microsoft has continued to offer many of its first-party titles on competing platforms. Xbox's most recent big console exclusive, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, will be coming to PlayStation 5 in the spring.