What you need to know
- Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft's Netflix-like all-you-can-eat gaming service.
- The last official update we got on the membership base pegged it at 25 million users.
- Today, a LinkedIn profile may have given us a hint that it has officially crossed the 30 million mark.
- Depending on how Microsoft tallies Xbox Game Pass membership, the recent rebrand to Xbox Live Gold to Xbox Game Pass core may swell the official number of users even further. However, XGP Core only features a couple of dozen games from the wider XGP library.
- Update: The LinkedIn profile in question removed the references to the "30 million" milestone. Microsoft reiterated to us in a statement that 25 million remains the last official milestone.
Xbox Game Pass may have crossed 30 million subscribers, according to this LinkedIn profile.
Xbox senior marketing director Craig McNary (via @bogorad222) recently moved into a new role, updating their career profile in the process. The previous role within integrated marketing ended in August, 2023, and within the profile description, we may have gotten our first real hint that Xbox Game Pass has crossed the 30 million membership milestone.
Update: Since publishing, the LinkedIn account in question removed references to Xbox Game Pass hitting 30 million. Microsoft also sent us a statement to reiterate the previous 25 million milestone as being the official tally.
Back in 2022, Microsoft confirmed that Xbox Game Pass had reached 25 million subscribers. The fact that it has only added 5~ million subscribers over a year and a half later may indicate that it is reaching its potential addressable market, but this was before the release of Starfield — a major platform exclusive that will likely improve the service's fortunes. Either way, 30 million isn't anything to balk at. Even if 100% of those users were on Xbox Game Pass' cheapest tier, that still amounts to $300 million dollars of revenue per month.
McNary's LinkedIn profile describes how the service has "over 30 million members" as of August 2023. It's unclear whether this information is out of date, or whether it's an accurate reflection of the present Xbox Game Pass numbers. We've reached out to Microsoft to comment on that aspect of it. However, there's another development that will likely send Xbox Game Pass numbers soaring, although it's unclear how Microsoft will tally that membership pool internally.
Yesterday, Microsoft officially rebranded Xbox Live Gold to Xbox Game Pass Core. Xbox Live Gold has roughly 60 million members, although again, exact figures can be hard to lock down. If Microsoft now considers these 60 million users as being part of Xbox Game Pass, the total footprint of the service will utterly swell. Xbox Game Pass Core only features 25 games from the wider Xbox Game Pass library, designed to be more of a taster for potential converts. However, for most users, it will be more cost-effective potentially to move to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes Xbox Live Gold's legacy multiplayer service as well as hundreds of games across Windows, Xbox, and cloud endpoints.
