Xbox shares Gamepass stats and user engagement info

[the-pi-guy]

Members play 40% more titles after joining.
Members play games across 30% more genres after joining.
Average 8.3x player lift after a back catalog game joins Gamepass.
For new games from large publishers 3.5x player lift compared similar games not on Gamepass.
Similarly 15x player lift new indie games.
3.5x lift for games launching on Gamepass compared to steam.
Social conversation increased by 3x for a game when it is announced for Gamepass.
GP members 4x more likely to stream on twitch.
GP members spend 50% more than similar users.
Post-sale monetization increases by 2.8x after joining Gamepass, 50% of this comes from new players to the game.

Era thread

[Legend]

Am I wrong or is this obvious fluff? Of course gamepass games are played more, because they are included in the subscription.

The last two are maybe interesting though. Why would gamepass members spend more and why would microtransaction sales increase for non new players?

[kitler53]

Am I wrong or is this obvious fluff? Of course gamepass games are played more, because they are included in the subscription.

The last two are maybe interesting though. Why would gamepass members spend more and why would microtransaction sales increase for non new players?

likely an easy to manipulate statistics.   gamepss users are nautrally going to include the "whales" that spend a lot of time (and money) on games.  

[the-pi-guy]

Am I wrong or is this obvious fluff? Of course gamepass games are played more, because they are included in the subscription.

I think the notable bit there is how much they are played more.

likely an easy to manipulate statistics.   gamepss users are nautrally going to include the "whales" that spend a lot of time (and money) on games.  

Probably this.

[BananaKing]

What do they mean exactly by post sale monetization?

[the-pi-guy]

What do they mean exactly by post sale monetization?

I am assuming dlc and the like.  

[BananaKing]

- Members play 40% more titles after joining.
Honestly I am shocked by how low actually this is. If a member played 10 games per year, It means they just played 14 with gamepass. If they played 20, it means they just jumped to 28. Doesnt seem like a big increase when you have so many available games

Members play games across 30% more genres after joining.
What does MS constitute a genre as? This stastic means very little without context. Does a 3rd person linear game a different genre from a 3rd person open world game, or a 3rd person co-op game. Or all they are 3rd person shooters. Anyways if you use numbers for the stats jumping from 10 genres per year to 13 for example isn't a big increase

-Average 8.3x player lift after a back catalog game joins Gamepass.
Is this total number if players? Peak users? MAU? Needs more context IMO. Also usually backlog games joining GP happen after majority of sales and players played them, or they didn't meet expectations and have low player counts. 8.3x seems like a high number, but it needs more context and examples

-For new games from large publishers 3.5x player lift compared similar games not on Gamepass.
I dont see this impressive at all? Considering the loss of sales and revenue, I doubt a 3.5 times the players would make it up, specially if the game isn't MTX or DLC focused.

Similarly 15x player lift new indie games.


3.5x lift for games launching on Gamepass compared to steam.
Same stat as the one above?? They just wanna compare it to steam. But launching on steam gets you revenue for each unit sold. Is MS paying that much? Doubt it.


Social conversation increased by 3x for a game when it is announced for Gamepass.
For how long? What metrics are used? What platforms? Compared to what, the day or week before? So when MS announcing something an increase in social conversation happens, okay? That's expected? Without context this is useless

GP members 4x more likely to stream on twitch.
Id assume the hard-core gamer and one who invests more in gaming is more likely to stream.


GP members spend 50% more than similar users.
Does this include GP subscriptions? Just MTX? Game sales, MTX, and subs?


Post-sale monetization increases by 2.8x after joining Gamepass, 50% of this comes from new players to the game.

So mtx and DLC increase by 2.8x, 50% is my gamepass users, what drives the increase in the non GP users, word of mouth? Is this just on xbox? Or other platforms?. Anyways this point shows something I personally don't like about GP, is that GPS model pushes devs to push MTX and DLC on games to earn revenue. This will push single player games to add MTX options and DLC to be able to properly monetize their games

[kitler53]

a big long post that i'll come back to my original post and state it slightly different.  

all this shows to me is a difference in demographics between gamepass subscribers and non-gamepass subscribers.    
- gamers that have always purched 12 full priced games a years are almost certainly subscribed to gamepass now.  
- gamers that used to buy 1 full priced game a year maybe did maybe didn't.
- gamers that used to buy <1 full priced games a year (3-4 a generation) almost certainly don't subscribe

of course gamepass subscribers play more games and buy more mtx.   these numbers are not impressive at all...

[BananaKing]

Microsoft reportedly paid 5-10 million for guardians of the galaxy to be on GP.

Not sure how this method will viable for 3rd party devs and publishers if MS is paying these numbers.

[kitler53]

Microsoft reportedly paid 5-10 million for guardians of the galaxy to be on GP.

Not sure how this method will viable for 3rd party devs and publishers if MS is paying these numbers.

even assuming 10 million that means it represents ~ 0.167 million unit sales.    

so basically the way "gamepass is sustainable" is by bankrupting the developer/publisher.  gamepass needs to cost/pay a lot more for games or our industry is going to be a lot smaller than its already gotten.

[BananaKing]

even assuming 10 million that means it represents ~ 0.167 million unit sales.    

so basically the way "gamepass is sustainable" is by bankrupting the developer/publisher.  gamepass needs to cost/pay a lot more for games or our industry is going to be a lot smaller than its already gotten.

I've been saying it for years. MS's gamepass approach will kill devs.

MS has put themselves as a the middle man between the costumer and the devs. And MS is dictating the business on both sides. They negotiate with the devs, and they "negotiate" with the costumer.

If GP becomes the main way for devs to make money, then MS controls the devs. Want 50 million for your game? Tough shame, we will only pay 20, take it or die.

How much money would have MS paid for TW3? Whatever it is you know it wouldn't have been close to whatever TW3 ended up generating. If a game blows up, MS reaps ALL the rewards. How do devs make extra money? MTX and DLC, and we know how amazing those usually are in gaming right?