Xbox admits Game Pass reduces game sales amid Activision buyout furore

pocket-lint.com:

After years of claiming that putting games into the Game Pass library actually helped sell more copies, Xbox has now admitted that isn't actually the case after all.

The revelation comes via a comment hidden in a quote from the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) report into Microsoft's possible buyout of Activision Blizzard. In that quote, spotted by GamesIndustry.biz, we learn that Microsoft knows full well that games that are available via Game Pass actually experience a reduction in sales, not an increase.

«Microsoft also submitted that its internal analysis shows a [redacted]% decline in base game sales twelve months following their addition on Game Pass,» the CMA's report reads.

Kotaku notes that even the CMA admits that some of Microsoft's data might have «some limitations» around the time period from which Microsoft pulled its own data from. But quotes like Xbox internal documents noting that adding games to Game Pass can mean the «cannibalization of [digital] sales” isn't a good look.

This is all a far cry from a statement given by Xbox chief Phil Spencer in 2018. Back then, he said that „when you put a game like Forza Horizon 4 on Game Pass, you instantly have more players of the game, which is actually leading to more sales of the game.”

Fast-forward to now and Microsoft has offered Kotaku a new statement, one that stops short of contradicting the CMA report.

“Xbox Game Pass offers gamers and game creators more choice and opportunity in how they discover, experience, and deliver games,» the quote starts. «For gamers, that means providing another option for them to discover games and play with friends at a great value. For developers, that means creating another option for how they monetize their