Phil Spencer Discusses Why Xbox Game Pass Isn’t For Everyone These Days

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service has been a huge part of its gaming plans in recent years, with much of the team’s marketing involving Xbox Game Pass availability in some fashion. However, Team Xbox has begun broadening its horizons lately by releasing titles on platforms that don’t support the subscription service – so it’s probably a good job that boss Phil Spencer sees XGP as just one key option in accessing and playing the company’s games.

Speaking with outlet Variety this week, Phil touched on the continued importance of Xbox Game Pass, while also discussing why the service might not be for everyone these days. Here’s a chunk of that chat:

“For me, I look at Game Pass as a healthy option for certain people. It’s not for everybody. If you play one or two games a year, Game Pass probably isn’t the right business model for you, you should just buy those two games, and that would make total sense. But I want you to have the choice. So we remain focused on everything that’s on Game Pass is also available to buy. We’re making those games available to buy in more places.”

Phil went on to say that Game Pass is “part of the equation for Xbox finding new players”, and that the team isn’t solely reliable on the service to help it reach new corners of the gaming market. That’s especially true now that a chunk of its library is moving over to PlayStation and Nintendo platforms – where Game Pass isn’t available.

Elsewhere in the Game Pass-flavoured chat, Phil admitted that console growth for the service is fairly stagnant at this time – and that “our biggest areas of growth right now are PC and Cloud”, which is something we’ve continued to see evidence of in recent months and years.