Xbox spends "over a billion dollars a year" on Game Pass
Xbox head Phil Spencer has stated that the company spends over a billion dollars per year on its Game Pass subscription service and has no plans to slow its expansion.
The details:
Spencer discussed Xbox's strategy following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in an interview with Windows Central, stating that the company spends "over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games coming into Game Pass." The executive went on to say that the high prices are part of Xbox's strategy of bringing new franchises and titles to the platform, as the company sees Game Pass as a financially viable service that "supports all kinds of games, from the biggest games to the unknown indie games."
Microsoft's CFO, Tim Stuart, stated last week that the company intends to bring the service to more platforms, including those of its console competitors, Nintendo and PlayStation. Spencer stated that there are currently "no plans to bring Game Pass to PlayStation or Nintendo," contesting Stuart's claims that the company was planning to persuade Sony to offer a direct rival to PlayStation Plus on its console.
Although it may not be coming to the aforementioned platforms, Spencer stated that the company will "continue to look at future ways for us to innovate across our game portfolio and our platform," which most likely includes plans to create a new mobile storefront for Xbox to compete with Google Play and the App Store.
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