Microsoft has been very busy today. With the earth-shattering news of Microsoft acquiring Activision-Blizzard for an eyewatering $68.7 billion, Microsoft also managed to slip out some other tidbits of news as well, such as their Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers. The subscription service is now at 25 million subscribers, up from a reported 18 million subscribers back in January 2021. That's about 7 million subscribers over the course of a year, which is excellent growth and will seemingly only grow with news of Microsoft's latest acquisition.
I mean, why wouldn't it? Per their own statistics Microsoft has 100 million players in their ecosystem at the moment across consoles, PC, mobile phones, and tablets each month, with 3 billion gamers playing worldwide as of right now, a number that will rise to 4.5 billion by 2030. That means if nothing else happens Microsoft should see 37.5 million subscribers for their service by 2030, but that's probably small potatoes to what Microsoft wants out of their service by the time a new decade rolls around.
With 400 million players and three billion-dollar franchises in Activision Blizzard's ecosystem, Microsoft's number of subscribers is only going to go up from here. Call of Duty potentially being a console and Xbox Game Pass exclusive is bound to shake things up come next year, but I guess we'll have to see.
For more information on all things Microsoft, stay tuned to TechRaptor for more details.
Quick Take
While a more conservative estimate would be around 40-45 million by 2030, I think the sky's the limit for Xbox Game Pass. 50 million is an easy bet, but what about 100 million? I don't think Microsoft is going to stop going after other publishers to improve their portfolio, so it's anyone's guess on how high Xbox Game Pass' star is going to climb. Personally, I think they'll hit 75 million by 2030. We'll find out in eight years.
What do you think of this news? Are you a subscriber of Xbox Game Pass? If not, are you more likely to be after this acquisition? Let us know in the comments!
