Microsoft reveals how much money Game Pass actually makes

UPDATE: CADE has released a new revised document that removes the revenue values from the tables listed below.

Microsoft reveals just how much money it makes from Xbox Game Pass on consoles, and it's quite a bit.

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Right now multiple worldwide regulators are sifting through tons of games industry data. The massive Microsoft-Activision merger is looming and regulators have collected libraries of data, figures, testimonials, and expert opinions as they try to determine if the mega-merger is good for consumers and the $198 billion video games market as a whole.

Some regulators like Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) have already approved the merger. CADE released a public document outlining its thought process on the approval and included a ton of data on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and others.

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One specific figure shows just how much Microsoft makes from Xbox Game Pass on consoles. According to the data, Xbox Game Pass generated $2.9 billion from consoles in 2021. Based on data publicly available by Microsoft, Xbox gaming generated a total of $16.28 billion in calendar year 2021.

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This means Xbox Game Pass made up roughly 18% of Microsoft's total yearly Xbox revenues ($16.28 billion), and nearly 30% of its games and services revenues ($12.581 billion) for the period.

We can take that even further and align those values with subscribers as of that period. Microsoft has sporadically revealed Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers so we can't be 100% accurate, however between August 2021 and March 2022, Xbox Game Pass went from 15 million to 18 million subscribers. So we can pinpoint a range $2.9 billion revenues generated from 15-18 million subscribers across both PC and consoles.

Remember the revenue figure is just for consoles and does not include PC Game Pass earnings.

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