It’s always difficult to get numbers at Microsoft. The financial reports speak more of evolution than face value. Speaking at WSJ Live, Phil Spencer spoke about the share of Game Pass subscriptions in Microsoft’s gaming revenue. At least we can say that they are not insignificant!
Game Pass’s share of our content and service revenue is probably 15%. I don’t think it’s bigger. I think overall revenue is going up, so 15% of a bigger number, but we don’t have that future where 50-70% of our revenue is from subscriptions.
Phil Spencer
This is a rare glimpse into Microsoft’s Game Pass and gaming activity worldwide. All the more interesting since Spencer himself doesn’t think the service will dominate the Seattle giant’s earnings.
One of the reasons would be the limited number of Xbox console owners who can subscribe to the service. In fact, the growth highlighted in the first-quarter financial results is that of PC and non-console subscriptions. With an increase of 159%, this will play a more important role in the future.
We’re seeing incredible growth on PC… On console, I’ve seen growth slow, mainly because you’ve eventually reached every console owner who wants to subscribe.
