Game dev with close ties to Xbox gives brutal review of Game Pass, says 'mediocre content' was 'slopped out'

Ori and the Blind Forest developer Thomas Mahler shares strong criticisms about Xbox Game Pass, saying that the subscription is essentially a factory that belts out 'mediocre' games.

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Game Pass has received lots of scrutiny lately and is often blamed for a portion of Xbox's current plight. The main issues with the service are cyclical and took years to develop, but the main gist is that Microsoft simply spent too much funding games for a risky business model--if subscribers ever leave, it'll be disastrous for Xbox, and that's partly what happened.

Developers have shared their views on Game Pass, with Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio saying Game Pass "damages the industry," and Journey to the Savage Planet developer Alex Hutchinson has also said that the service may harm indies in the long run. Others like Moon Studios' Thomas Mahler have harsher words about Game Pass; Mahler worked closely with Microsoft on two Ori games, both of which launched into Game Pass on day one, so he has a unique inside perspective.

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Game Pass subscriber counts before Microsoft raised prices in October 2025. The company lost millions of subscribers after the hike.

Mahler recently put a lengthy post discussing how Game Pass essentially failed:

"I mean, the Gamepass strategy could've worked if people would've shown up for it. Problem is: They didn't and the software catalogue was just nowhere near good enough to make people happily pay the subscription every month," Mahler said.

The indie dev goes on to say that Microsoft simply doesn't know how to identify hits, and instead of producing must-play content, the games were essentially pushed out on a factory line to help fill the service's games catalog.

"That's the crux of the issue: You'd need the Xbox folks to deeply, fundamentally understand gamers and what they want. They'd need to understand what's a good game and what's a mediocre game. And they'd need to have good deals with devs so developers are actively incentivized to produce massive hits, not just slop out mediocre content like a factory."

Another interesting perspective: Game Pass is apparently like Communism.

"Gamepass in some ways is a little like Communism. And just like with communism, if you don't give people a strong incentive to roll up their sleeves and go the extra mile, they won't. And if you then don't get the quality you need, it all comes crashing down cause players will not pay up unless you basically force them to by making content that's so good that they feel like they miss out if they don't check it out."

Microsoft has made changes to Game Pass throughout this year, pulling Call of Duty day one releases from the subscription and dropping the cost from $29.99 per month to a more manageable $22.99.

Revenue-wise, the service commanded nearly 20% of Xbox's full-year earnings for FY25 with nearly $5 billion earned throughout the year. That was before the price hike that boosted player costs by 50%, leading to a mass exodus that saw millions of players leave Game Pass.

The company is also expected to make further changes to the subscription, including adding free ad-supported cloud game streaming, but exact details remain unclear.