In a reveal that shocks nobody, Microsoft has revealed that Xbox Game Pass causes sales of games on the service to decrease. The reveal comes about thanks to the provisional report from the UK Competition and Markets Authority that was produced due to the ongoing investigation into the Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard merger and goes against statements from Phil Spencer himself.
Xbox Game Pass causes cannibalization, admits Microsoft
The report states the following when it comes to Xbox Game Pass:
“Microsoft also submitted that its internal analysis shows a [redacted]% decline in base game sales twelve months following their addition on Game Pass.”
This has long been speculated to be the case, but this report (via GamesIndustry.biz) provides the first official confirmation of the reality of the situation. This is in sharp contrast to previous statements by Phil Spencer in an interview with LevelUp.com, in which Spencer stated:
“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. Some people have questioned that, but when State of Decay 2 launched, you saw if you looked in the US at the NPD you saw this game selling really well the month it launched on GamePass”
In other news, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor won’t be coming to last-generation systems due to hardware limitations, plus fans have been disappointed by the God of War Ragnarok Super Bowl spot.
