Microsoft Reveals How Much Money Xbox Game Pass Rakes In

Games Microsoft Reveals How Much Money Xbox Game Pass Rakes In Kris Holt Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I cover all things games, especially Overwatch. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Oct 10, 2022, 01:32am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Game Pass is a solid money earner for Microsoft. Getty Images One thing about mergers and acquisitions is that certain details about each party may spill out into the open as a result of financial disclosures during antitrust reviews by various regulators. Brazil recently gave the green light to Microsoft’s planned $68.

7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. In a report spelling out its reasons for giving the deal its unanimous approval, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense revealed one particularly juicy detail about Microsoft: how much it’s making from Xbox Game Pass. As spotted by TweakTown , the report notes that Microsoft generated $2.

9 billion in global revenue from Xbox Game Pass on consoles last year. This figure doesn’t include PC Game Pass. It’s not clear how Game Pass Ultimate revenue factors in here either.

However, Xbox Game Pass subscribers topped 25 million last year. Xbox Game Pass accounted for 18% of total Xbox revenue last year ($16. 3 billion) and 23% of Microsoft’s games and services revenue ($12.

6 billion). The figure is a drop in the bucket compared with Microsoft’s total revenue of $184. 9 billion for the 2021 calendar year — Xbox Game Pass accounted for just over 1.

5% of the company’s overall revenue over that period. (Microsoft’s fiscal year runs from July to June. ) For what it’s worth, the report points out that Xbox Game Pass generated $60 million in revenue from Brazil in 2021.

Intriguingly, the report also contains details on “multi-game subscription services for consoles” (per Google Translate) for Nintendo and Electronic Arts. It pegs those as $932 million for Nintendo Switch Online in 2021, and $356 million for Electronic Arts (presumably EA Play) on consoles. Sony is mentioned in a table that includes these figures, but no dollar value is given for how much it made from PlayStation Plus and the defunct PlayStation Now last year.

However, the report suggested that Xbox Game Pass accounts for 30-40% of console games subscription revenue among the four companies, while Sony had 40-50% of that market. Back-of-the-envelope math suggests that Sony generated up to $4. 2 billion from PS Plus and PS Now last year.

MORE FOR YOU Juan Soto Contract Rejection Could Make Orioles A Better Buy Than Nationals Lotte Duty Free Uses Japan’s Visa-Free Reopening To Tourists To Pump Up Korean Sales ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Looks Amazing But Chris Pratt As Mario Sounds Weird And Wrong Fascinating stuff, however you slice it. Just how much bringing Activision Blizzard into the fold will boost Xbox Game Pass revenue remains to be seen, though that publisher is shifting its focus to microtransaction revenue these days anyway.

MORE FROM FORBES Overwatch League Skins Are Way More Expensive In ‘Overwatch 2’ By Kris Holt Meanwhile, it’ll be several months yet before we learn whether the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal will actually go through. The companies still need approval from regulators in key markets, including the U. S.

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