Xbox Game Pass Dominates Western Games Service Market

It is not a hot take to claim that Microsoft has dominated the game subscription market recently, with ever-growing subscribers. It has amongst the best subscription services in the world when it comes to everything gaming. Xbox Game Pass provides a rich library of rotating catalogs of titles from a wide variety of publishers. The 100+ titles at a time make the subscription beneficial and games more accessible.

Microsoft has especially taken over the western market; and has enjoyed stellar success. Xbox Game Pass has allured many gamers through many features and the accessibility that they provide for the titles. It’s no surprise that the figures are growing more than any other subscription service. Although words don’t hold value alone, the statistics speak for themselves.

It’s still a small small slice of overall gaming. But Microsoft has a commanding lead in the “Netflix for Games” race. And that’s before it gets hold of Activision. (Slide by @PiersHR ) pic.twitter.com/5wdSCESkNU

— Dave Lee (@DaveLeeFT) March 23, 2022

Microsoft has overshadowed all the other game subscription services by a whole lot. The chart is based on Q4 2021 consumer spending, and it shows the performance of different subscription services. Xbox Game Pass held 60% of the consumer spending market shares, while Apple Arcade took the second spot, only reaching 9%. Other services stayed even below the 9% threshold. 

Microsoft is expected to dominate even more moving forward in this new decennium. Xbox Game Pass has garnered over 25 million subscribers as of January 2022 and is only likely to grow further. 25 million subscribers make up for a massive part of the monthly earnings for the company. However, the most admirable acclaim here is the growth that they have presented, up from 18 million just a year ago.

Microsoft started this year with a bang by announcing the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The company has been deepening its presence in the in-house catalog of high-quality titles. This acquisition is beneficial to Microsoft in improving its roster of games. Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, stated in the acquisition announcement, “Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog”. So, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can also look forward to adding Activision Blizzard games to their library.