Phil Spencer spoke at length during his recent interview with
IGN. The boss of Xbox answered various and varied questions, referring in particular to the subject Halo and 343 Industries, the lack of games in 2022, or even the strategy targeted by the firm in 2023. But the man was also questioned about the Xbox Game Pass, and particularly Microsoft’s recent figures announcing a 12% drop in revenue from Xbox games and services.
“I am satisfied with this growth”
If you haven’t been following the news from last week, Microsoft released the results for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2023. On this occasion, we learned that the brand had experienced a 13% drop in revenue, and that the “games and services” part, including 1st party games and the Xbox Game Pass, had fallen by 12%.
When Phil Spencer was asked how he felt about the situation, and in particular the impression that Game Pass was taking longer to take off than expected by the firm when it launched, he said:
Well, one thing with Game Pass is that we’re kind of in uncharted territory doing what we do with this service in the industry. It is therefore more difficult for us to go into the field and look at examples to help us assess how fast we should develop. We’re at an all-time high for paid subscribers, and Game Pass continues to grow. I am satisfied with this growth. We set high internal goals, and people see that sometimes we miss those goals, sometimes we hit them, but I will always be ambitious about what we try to achieve.
The year 2021 was much more interesting in terms of games
The boss of Xbox also mentions that these figures are compared to the previous year, and that Microsoft had had an interesting year in 2021. Indeed, the firm had been able to count on the release of Halo Infinite, Age of Empires as well than Forza Horizon 5 to attract new players.
In comparison, Xbox did not release any major games in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2023, which inevitably had a direct impact on the number of subscribers:
I would say the quarter numbers you’re talking about for software and services…keep in mind that’s a year-over-year comparison. Last year in this quarter we had Age of Empires, we had Forza Horizon 5, we had Halo Infinite. All of these games have done very well for us, and as we’ve pointed out, we haven’t had such a major release in the same quarter of this year.
So year-over-year comparisons have gone down, and that’s not something we aspire to in running the business. It’s not our goal, but there’s a certain timing in all of this.
2023 should be a game changer
If Microsoft could not count on the release of big games in 2022 to attract new players, there is no doubt that this year 2023 will radically change the situation. With the arrival of Redfall, Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends or even Starfield, Xbox will have many titles this time to sell its flagship service.
For Phil Spencer, launching big games at a regular cadence in Game Pass is key to this growth, and when asked how important titles like Redfall and Starfield are to the service, he replies:
Redfall and Starfield are very important games, like all the 1st party games we build. Game Pass growth has been steady. And as we add new games and game suites, we see continued growth. Sometimes the growth is about games we’ve been waiting for, and then every once in a while a Vampire Survivors or now a Hi-Fi Rush comes along and creates its own excitement. So sometimes you can predict which games are going to generate excitement, and sometimes you’re surprised. That’s what I love about our industry: great games can come from different places.
The boss of Xbox is also very enthusiastic about the strength that Bethesda brings to the Xbox portfolio. It must be said that with the upcoming launch of Redfall, the follow-up to The Elder Scrolls Online, the recent shadow drop from Hi Fi: Rush and the huge expectation around Starfield, Bethesda is indeed occupying the Xbox space to perfection at the start of the year.
We can’t wait to see what the brand has in store for us in 2023. There are many projects currently in development within Xbox Game Studios and you can find the list of exclusive Xbox games planned for 2023, 2024 and beyond in particular in our dedicated article.
