Microsoft has long claimed that Xbox Game Pass has not cut into game sales and in fact, boosts them. However, the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s provisional report on the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition includes an admission from Microsoft that says otherwise.
The CMA noted in its report:
“Microsoft also submitted that its internal analysis shows a [redacted]% decline in base game sales twelve months following their addition on Game Pass,”
Back in 2018, Phil Spencer claimed:
“When you put a game like Forza Horizon 4 on Game Pass, you instantly have more players of the game, which is actually leading to more sales of the game. You say, ‘Well isn’t everyone just going to subscribe for $10 and go play this thing?’ But no, gamers find things to play based on what everybody else is playing.”
The CMA’s report also cited Microsoft as saying that Activision took a negative view on putting its titles into multi-game subscription services on any platform. Futher, Activision believed that it would “severely cannibalise B2P [buy-to-play] sales, particularly in the case of newer releases.”