Analyst: Game Pass effect drives consumption, Xbox users play more games than PlayStation users

Analyst firm Ampere Analysis implies that Game Pass has changed consumer habits--Xbox users play more games on average, but are less likely to play for longer periods of time.

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Since 2017, there's a dynamic that's been happening among the Big 3: Nintendo and PlayStation preserve the status quo while Xbox disrupts the market with its all-you-can-play Game Pass subscription service. Over the past few years, we've seen Nintendo and PlayStation follow Game Pass with their own service, but with different aims in mind. Game Pass puts heavy emphasis on value to attract users, and the gambit has worked. Microsoft has apparently successfully changed how its own console users access and consume content.

According to findings from Ampere Analysis analyst Louise Wooldridge, Xbox gamers are playing more games on average than PlayStation or Steam users. The trend has been consistent for the past 3 years, Wooldridge notes.

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This makes sense because Game Pass is positioned as a must-have, console-defining experience by virtue of its day-and-date releases, so more Xbox users would be subscribed, and an active subscription will prompt users to try to maximize the value of their membership (this is the same logic that Netflix uses for its streaming service, hence the glut of content).

What's most interesting about the findings, though, is that Xbox users are playing for a lesser amount of time than PlayStation or Nintendo users.

The biggest question I have about this data is the age bracket--do the Xbox users skew older? Remember that PlayStation and Nintendo far exceed Xbox's current user base (PS5 - 80.3 million, Switch - 153 million, Xbox Series - 35 million), and this lead means that there's probably more younger users attached to these systems than there are to Xbox.

Check below for an excerpt of Ampere's findings:

The Game Pass effect drives up consumption

With an estimated 34m total subscribers and the majority of those accessing the service via an Xbox console, Game Pass is a strong driver behind the high game consumption of Xbox users.

As of August 2025, there are more than 500 unique titles available to console users of Game Pass. Although this is considerably fewer than PlayStation Plus Premium, which offers just under 1,000 games, Game Pass subscribers are far more active across the available titles.

On average, PlayStation users play two fewer games each month compared to Xbox users - and this has been the case since Ampere tracking began in August 2022.

While multi-game consumption is higher on Steam than on PlayStation, Steam users still play around one game fewer than Xbox users in an average month.

This highlights the cost barrier in terms of accessing and playing games content. The average price of a game on Steam is far lower than on the console platforms, and yet the perceived value of Game Pass is encouraging gamers to play many more titles than they would ordinarily.