Since its announcement, one of the criticisms leveled at the Xbox Game Pass model it was related to earnings. Not only of the developers and publishers who entrust their games to the Microsoft service on day one, but also for the Redmond giant. The official figures have never been revealed, at least until today, when the Brazilian regulatory body (the CADE) which dealt with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Phil Spencer and partners has not really come into possession of the revenues of the Xbox brands.
According to Microsoft's information sent to CADE, Xbox Game Pass would grind billions of dollars. Probably less than you'd expect, but still a good portion. Before going into the analysis, however, a clarification: the figures do not include PC Game Pass, or subscriptions for the Windows client. These are therefore numbers for which we are forced to use the conditional, since there is a lack of an entire cross-section of the market, which is difficult to calculate.
Let's now move on to the data: according to the Microsoft slides provided to CADE, Xbox Game Pass generated $2,9 billion in 2021. The figure is less, but very little, hardware, which stands at 3,7 billion dollars. However, the games and optional services are distant, earning the Redmond giant an amount equal to 12,5 billion dollars. These numbers confirm that the sale of consoles is no longer Microsoft's main market and at the same time that the subscription service would not completely affect the purchase of games by users.
Clearly, as we mentioned at the beginning of the news, this figure must be taken with a grain of salt and with due caution. In addition to the lack of PC Game Pass revenue, we don't even know how many subscribers there are in detail, which subscription tier is the most chosen and if these figures also include users who have an active Xbox All Access plan, which allows you to buy an Xbox console in installments with a subscription right at Game Pass Ultimate. Many points still to be clarified, but the documents held by CADE are still an excellent basis for ascertaining how the service is in excellent shape.
