Xbox Game Pass was a good idea, but not enough people subscribed, says former Forza Horizon 5 director

Q: What subscriber shortfall did Mike Brown say caused Game Pass to be financially unsustainable?

He said that "not enough people have subscribed to it at the prices that they needed to pay in order to make that business viable," meaning the subscription never pulled in enough paying members. Previous reports cited in the article suggested Xbox was targeting near 77 million subscribers but was actually closer to 30 million, creating the shortfall.

Q: How many Xbox job cuts has Microsoft confirmed through fiscal year 2027 linked to the Game Pass reset?

Microsoft has confirmed Xbox will cut 3,200 jobs through fiscal year 2027 as part of the wider reset linked to the Game Pass situation.

Q: Which first-party studio mentioned in this article has already been marked for closure or spin-off?

Compulsion Games has already been marked for closure or spin-off. This is stated in the primary article.

Forza Horizon 5 director Mike Brown says Game Pass was a good idea that simply never attracted enough paying subscribers to work as a business.

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Hassam Nasir

Tech Reporter

Published Jul 21, 2026 7:10 PM CDT

1 minute & 30 seconds read time

TL;DR: Former Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown says Game Pass was a sound idea but failed to attract enough paying subscribers to justify Microsoft's studio acquisitions, contributing to layoffs and studio closures; Xbox will keep the service but focus on fewer, larger releases going forward.

Voice: Hassam NasirSpeed

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Mike Brown, the former creative director of Forza Horizon 5, has weighed in on Xbox's ongoing turmoil. His take lands right at the center of the subscriber math Microsoft has been dealing with all year.

Speaking on the MinnMax podcast, Brown said Game Pass was a good idea, but that the subscription simply never pulled in enough paying members to support what Microsoft built around it.

"I think the reality is not enough people have subscribed to it at the prices that they needed to pay in order to make that business viable"
- Mike Brown.

He pointed directly at the fallout that has followed, adding that we're now going to see studios getting shut down or spun off, with lots of people losing their jobs. Like clockwork, Microsoft has confirmed Xbox will cut 3,200 jobs through fiscal year 2027 as part of a wider reset, and multiple studios, including Compulsion Games, have already been marked for closure or spin-off.

According to previous reports, Game Pass was reportedly targeting somewhere near 77 million subscribers by now, but the real number has been sitting closer to 30 million, and that is after a price hike earlier this year reportedly knocked off several million subscribers on its own. Therefore, Mike is absolutely right that Game Pass has not been able to hit those subscriber counts that Xbox executives had hoped.

Microsoft spent years acquiring studios to keep Game Pass stocked with new games, betting that a steady drip of first-party releases would keep growing the subscriber base fast enough to justify the spending. That bet did not pay off, and the layoffs happening now are largely the industry paying for it.

Xbox Game Pass was a good idea, but not enough people subscribed, says former Forza Horizon 5 director 2

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Brown, who left Playground Games in 2023 and now runs Maverick Games, also pushed back on the idea that any single Xbox executive should take the blame, saying the concept itself was sound even if the economics never lined up.

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Question #1

What subscriber shortfall did Mike Brown say caused Game Pass to be financially unsustainable?

Question #2

How many Xbox job cuts has Microsoft confirmed through fiscal year 2027 linked to the Game Pass reset?

Question #3

Which first-party studio mentioned in this article has already been marked for closure or spin-off?

Question #4

What subscriber target was Game Pass reportedly aiming for that it failed to reach?

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However, that does not mean that Game Pass is going away. It just means Xbox is likely to lean on fewer, bigger releases instead of funding a wide roster of smaller studios, and gamers should expect a more cautious version of the service going forward.