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Analyzing Xbox Game Pass For Console - A Numbers Breakdown (Last Update: August 15th, 2020)
- Thread starter MauroNL
- Start date
incredible analysis.
Just bought my daughters game pass ultimate with their own new account. god bless.
Just bought my daughters game pass ultimate with their own new account. god bless.
I love gamepass but something that bothers me is the lack of Microsoft Titles in the service. Yes sure they have 70 games there but... That's a small percentage of the games they have developed/published.
I think they should make a tab called "Xbox games" and just put as many games there as possible. For example, why wouldn't we have all the forza games there?
I think they should make a tab called "Xbox games" and just put as many games there as possible. For example, why wouldn't we have all the forza games there?
You can still buy a lot of the games on the Xbox store. For example, Forza Horizon 3. How would putting it on gamepass be different than selling it on a store? (honest question)
Licensing reasons.
You can't just change the way you distribute licensed products. It really depends on the deals made on these products. For example, if MS paid a license per copy sold this would become very complicated.
Gotta be honest, game pass is incredible but I only have the opportunity to play MAYBE 5-10 of these games a year. Manual Samuel was probably the most random game I enjoyed
Licensing for selling and licensing for adding to services are two different things and also can have expiration dates
Besides this reason, Microsoft promises that every first party on the service will never leave it.
Which they can't do with Forza games, since they're delisted after a few years from the store (because again, licensing reasons).
Excellent work and research. I love to see that some of the biggest game pass supporters are Japanese companies.
I love game pass. Too many times have I been burnt by buying a game that I thought I would like, but didn't - or pass on a game that I thought I wouldn't like, but end up playing and really enjoying. With game pass that isn't a thing anymore. If I don't like the game I just stop playing and don't have to feel bad for "wasting" money and I get to experience loads of games I would have not played in the past. Not to mention all future first party games, on release day are playable!
Really well researched and put together thread. Super interesting to compare actual figures. Thanks for the hard work!!
Really well researched and put together thread. Super interesting to compare actual figures. Thanks for the hard work!!
This is a great thread for a great service. Much appreciated, MauroNL. If you're looking to add more stats, it would be interesting to know how many games go to Game Pass within three months and six months from their launch date. They're already doing well with day one releases as your spoiler show and if the 3-6 months old releases are taken into account as well, there's quite a lot of decently new stuff on GP.
Weird responses to a perfectly normal request. Are you guys worried about the results or somthing?
And the responses are like service data analysis warring. Gees. lol
OP
OP
It really isn't. OP took the time and collected and analyzed this data and created this thread of his own free will and because he wanted to. Asking him to do the same for another platform is just rude IMO and taking his time for granted. If he wanted to do one, he would've did it or do one in the future. We should be thankful he even did this.
After Microsoft took away my sweet supply of new Xbox Backwards Compatibility titles, my analysis thread was left in the dark. As the BC program is either cancelled or on hiatus until at least the end of this year my craving for a new analysis thread has grown. What better topic is there than Xbox Game Pass right now? After its inception over 2.5 years ago I thought it would be fun to see how the service has progressed from the start to where it is now. How many games did we get? What are some of the best supporters? What are the best months? These questions and loads more will be answered by the end of this post!
What is Xbox Game Pass?
For those unfamiliar with Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft describes it as "Xbox Game Pass has unlimited access to over 100 high-quality games—with titles added all the time. Whether you play console games, PC games, or both, there's a plan for you. Join Xbox Game Pass for one low monthly price and discover your next favorite game", but its also often described as the 'Netflix for games'. For more in-depth information you can view the official website or the OT right here on ERA. For this analysis I'm focussing solely on Xbox Game Pass For Console, since that is where it started and because the PC side is still in beta.
How Many Games Have Been On Xbox Game Pass?
Xbox Game Pass saw the light of day on June 1, 2017. Since it is a Netflix type subscription, games are added and removed all the time. So how many games have actually been on the service since launch? There currently is no list that covers all Game Pass games past and present, so I created a master list that includes all games that have come and gone since launch. This way we can determine the breakdown of total games, and what platforms.
Total Number of Games: 452
Xbox One: 341
Xbox 360: 107
Original Xbox: 4
How is the games library now compared to launch?
The succes of a service like Game Pass all depends on the content. The more content, the more appealing it is to subscribe to it. Game Pass launched with 114 games on June 1, 2017. So how has the service been developing over these past 30 or so months? Combining all the added and removed games we can see a healthy growth in terms of a baseline of games on GamePass. From about 150 games at the end of 2017 to nearly 250 games at the end of 2019, you can clearly see GamePass has been delivering more bang for buck over the last few years. These are the number of games on the service in said period, so that takes into account all games that were added and deleted in that period.
What is the average lifespan of a Game Pass game?
Game Pass being a subscription model means games usually don't stay on there forever. Outside of Microsoft' own titles, which do remain on there indefinitely, publishers can determine how long they want to have their game on the service. Now we still don't know anything about how revenue and profits for Game Pass are determined and shared between publishers, how much or if Microsoft 'pays' publishers to put their games on it, what periods publishers can choose from, all of these are still unknowns so all we can do is speculate or make educated guesses.
Having said that, I've gathered all the games that have come and also gone from Game Pass and rounded them up to see how the split is and what the averages are between titles. Now this only takes into account the games that have been added AND removed, so all the games that have been on there since launch are not accounted for as are all the new games that have yet to be removed. The graph below shows interesting results, as we can see that a little over 18% are on Game Pass for less than 12 months, 2% for 6 months or less. The vast majority of games, over 55%, are on Game Pass for at least 12 months. A sizeable chunk, roughly 17%, doubles that period and remains on Game Pass for over two years.
What is the platform split of new additions?
When Game Pass launched the split between Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles was still in favour of Xbox 360 titles. But what about all the new titles that have joined the service since? How many of those have been Xbox One and how many Xbox 360? Grouping this into 6 month periods its clear to see that Xbox One games have been the major focus of all the games that have joined since launch. In fact, Xbox 360 games have almost become non existent in terms of new additions, which to me is a sad development but was bound to happen since there have been no new backwards compatible titles.
Who are the best supporters of Xbox Game Pass?
For Microsoft to grow the number of games on the service it needs to entice publishers to support it. Microsoft are obviously frontrunners of their own service and have declared full support for it, even putting its own titles on the service right at launch. But what about all the other publishers out there? Who has been the most supportive since launch and who has been missing from it completely?
Checking the master list has determined that 134 different publishers have had at least one game on Game Pass. This of course includes all the self published indie titles but also all the major publishers out there. In the graph below you can see the top 15 publishers and how many titles they have had on Game Pass past or present.
So we can say there is already widespread support for Game Pass but there are still a lot of major publishers missing that have yet to publish a single title. Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard are some of the bigger ones, but major publishers like Rockstar and Ubisoft have only supported with a single game (GTA V and The Division), so there is still work to be done. Of course this can have various reasons like said publishers having or planning its own subscription service like EA (Origin) and Ubisoft (Uplay+) or just plain not believing in the subscription model yet.
How many games have released Day 1 on Game Pass?
Likely one of the bigger reasons people might not yet believe in the subscription model is that you can't play games on day 1 of release. But there have been games releasing day 1 on Game Pass outside of Microsoft' own. In total 46 games have been playable since its launch with Game Pass, and you can view all of them in the spoiler below.
Absolver
Aftercharge
Afterparty
Ashen
Below
Bomber Crew
Crackdown 3
Creature in the Well
Demon's Tilt
Felix The Reaper
Forza Horizon 4
Gears 5
Graveyard Keeper
GRIP
Kingdom: Two Crowns
Laser League
Lonely Mountains: Downhill
Munchkin: Quacked Quest
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
My Friend Pedro
Next Up Hero
Operencia: The Stolen Sun
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Outer Wilds
Pathologic 2
Pumped BMX Pro
Riverbond
Robocraft Infinity
Sea of Thieves
Secret Neighbor
Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
Slay The Spire
State of Decay 2
Supermarkt Shriek
The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut
The Bard's Tale Trilogy
The Gardens Between
The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game
The Outer Worlds
Thief of Thieves
Two Point Hospital
Untitled Goose Game
Wandersong
Warhammer Vermintide 2
Wasteland 3
Wasteland Remastered
What are the best months for Xbox Game Pass?
I thought it would be interesting to see in what months we see the most new games come and most old games go. I've combined all the additions and deletions for all months and determined averages for all months to see what are the best and 'worst' months on the service. Blue is games added, green is games deleted. June seems
to be the month with the most new games on average, likely because of the bigger E3 drops. May is the month with the most games deleted from Game Pass, which can be attributed to the higher June addition average, since most games tend to have a 12 month lifespan.
Games being removed......or not?
Another oddity I found when making the list was that there are multiple games that were set to be removed but ended up staying. Since Microsoft hasn't always been super clear about what games are being removed until only recently, digging into the past hasn't been easy. Currently there are 5 games in the Xbox Game Pass Library that were previously given a notion of being removed at the end of said month. However, checking the list again shows that these games are still available. Those games currently are Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, Dead Island Definitive Edition, Guacamelee!, JetPac Refuelled and theHunter: Call of the Wild. There are also multiple games that were supposed to leave but ended up staying longer and were removed at a later time.
Why is this happening? Well we don't really know. The Xbox Game Pass App shows what games are leaving each month and that is probably driven by an algorithm or something like that that renews each month, so there could be errors in there. Another possibility is that publishers get another chance to renew or extend the games' stay on Game Pass, so it could be that some of them take advantage of this and some don't. Either way its good to know that even though a game is set to leave, there is always a slight possibilty it ends up staying longer.
Well that is it for now, hope you enjoy all this juicy data! In the future I will keep this thread up to date with all the new releases and removals and will add more in depth analysis when I can. If you see something that is incorrect or you have suggestions feel free to post them in a reply or DM me. If you would like to use this data for your website feel free to contact me via DM.
Wow great job! As a Game Pass addict and a data and analytics manager, this is my thread of the month.
I assume you're also including your own response when you say this?
June additions likely to do with E3 and XO. Interesting to see November doesn't see a similar spike when the international XO happens
I've 12 month XBL sitting on my desk. I haven't yet redeemed it. Don't have XBX yet. So will going to wait until I buy one.
I do see the appeal to gamepass.
I do see the appeal to gamepass.
They really should add more Original Xbox exclusive game to Gamepass or BC. So many games stuck on that system.
Hopefully BC support continues after Xbox Series X launches.
I can't believe I got 3 years of game pass ultimate for $90. Feels too good to be true and there's got to be a catch coming soon
You could just as easily look the data up and compile it in the exact same way.
I occasionally put a ton of time into long-form posts and it's pretty shitty this person's default response was to ask OP to do more work and compile another set of data, especially when that data is widely-available online and he could do it himself. He's essentially saying that his time is more valuable than OP's. If you want a similar post for Playstation Now, write it yourself. Posts like this are great content from Era and we shouldn't discourage people from doing them by asking them to do more without any other comment.
Youre being self righteous for no reason. No one is compelling the OP to do anything he doesn't want to do. It's a simple question and he's free to decline it. In no way is he obligated to "do more work" by a random forum poster. He obviously did something he has a talent for and at his leisure and it only makes sense that people would be interested in seeing similar works on various topics.
Not sure why you're trying to imply on the OP behalf that they're offended. It's just plain weird.
Don't ask people who've taken their time out to compile and analyze data and have created a thread because they wanted to share it on this fourm to do the same for something you want. How do you not get that? You're the one that's weird.
Um, the request itself is just plain bad form not to mention out of left field, it has NOTHING to do with what's being presented here. You defending this take is what's weird...
OP
OP
Thanks, and thats a very cool suggestion! I'll be sure to take that in to consideration with the next few updates but it'll take some time for sure.
Hey MauroNL
I remembered this thread today while thinking of my plans to try to plan my gaming around games leaving game pass soon. Found this list on TrueAchievements with dates when they were added to game pass. And seeing as you seems to have some data over this, is the linked list accurate when the games were added? I know not all games stay for 12-18 months, but seeing that the majority is around for a year or later, it might be good to try and play the ones that seem interesting before it's too late
I remembered this thread today while thinking of my plans to try to plan my gaming around games leaving game pass soon. Found this list on TrueAchievements with dates when they were added to game pass. And seeing as you seems to have some data over this, is the linked list accurate when the games were added? I know not all games stay for 12-18 months, but seeing that the majority is around for a year or later, it might be good to try and play the ones that seem interesting before it's too late
Jesus you people are weird. It was an innocuous "hey op can you do this for another platform" because as we can all see the op is impressive. People get asked to do OTs for game all the time because they have incredible talent for that.
You're repeating the same mistake. SMH