Since its launch in June 2017, the Xbox Game Pass has become a hub in Microsoft's strategy. Last July, the CEO of the Redmond firm, Satya Nadella, was delighted with the rapid growth of the service by stating very good figures concerning the habits of subscribed players.
However, the years follow each other without looking alike for the Microsoft service, because if the forecasts for the last fiscal year were largely exceeded, this was not necessarily the case during the 2021 financial year.
Strong growth, but below expectations
The list of games joining the Xbox Game Pass continues to grow in order to convince as many players as possible. It must be said that the attractive cost of its offer and the tempting titles that join the catalog are enough to make PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S owners crack. The month of October is also not to be outdone with the arrival of Back 4 Blood and EverSpace 2 tomorrow, for example.
Rightly, the firm was pleased with the fiscal year 2020, in particular thanks to an increase of 85,75% in the number of subscribers against an initial objective of 71%. Note that Microsoft prefers to express Xbox Game Pass goals and results in terms of growth, and that the annual performance goal is tied to equity compensation for the company's top executives.
However, it would seem that Microsoft has been a little too ambitious about its objectives for the fiscal year 2021. In January 2021, the company announced no less than 18 million subscribers to its service and hoped to close its fiscal year, at 30 June 2021, on an overall increase of 47,79%.
In the end, the Redmond firm misses its target by reaching "only" 37,48% increase. Nevertheless, the service is increasing sharply, which is a pretty good sign for the company, even if some, like Shawn Layden, do not believe in its viability.
