It’s no secret that Xbox Game Pass is a very good subscription service for gamers, that’s undeniable. The pass offers hundreds of games for only $10 a month. Your first month is even more cheap, only costing you $1. It gives you almost unrestricted access to all of Microsoft’s first-party games and several other titles. The pass has been so successful that it has already surpassed 10 million subscribers.
Many people have been wondering how Microsoft is making any money off of it. The company is giving so much stuff away for such a low price, and recently the xCloud streaming service was also added to the pass for no additional cost. Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg recently gave an interview with What's Good Games where he talked about how Xbox Game Pass is more of a marketing tool.
According to Greenberg, the pass isn’t exactly the most profitable program at Microsoft. It’s more of a very good marketing tool that will prove to be profitable in the long run. However, consumers should not worry. Microsoft has enough financial resources to support the pass, so it isn't going to go away any time soon.
Greenberg also emphasized how Xbox Game Pass has improved the image of Xbox in the gaming industry. The pass offers so much content for such a low price that it drastically increased the word-of-mouth marketing. If a consumer likes the service then he/she may recommend it to his/her friend, and to be honest, it makes sense. I myself purchased the pass after my friend recommended it.
“The most powerful marketing is word-of-mouth marketing. We can create as many advertisements, as many assets as we want, but if both of you go tell one of your closest friends, 'You have to get Game Pass!' that's way more effective than any marketing I can do," Greenberg said in the interview. "For us, we just want to keep adding more and more value [to Xbox Game Pass] so you feel really good about that and you feel like you want to go tell your friends about it. And ultimately, we think long-term that's the right thing for the business and will have long-term benefits for us. In the short-term, yeah, [Xbox Game Pass] is not a big profit play. But we think long-term it works out good for everybody.”
We highly recommend that you try out the pass, or you can wait for Halo: Infinite or Microsoft Flight Simulator to release so that you can play them for only $1.
So what do you think? Have you ever used Xbox Game Pass? Do you think it’s worth the money? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
