Media: Number of Game Pass subscribers dropped to 30 million
In February 2024, Microsoft boasted about 34M Game Pass subscribers. After that—silence. The Wall Street Journal reported a fall: roughly 30M now, i.e., down ~4M since early 2024 and ~7M vs. 2022. Numbers only; no spin.
Yesterday, the head of XBOX, Asha Sharma, said the division had placed its chips on Game Pass and related moves, but those bets “did not grow at the pace XBOX had expected.” The tone was frank—no sweeping optimism—and the message was simple: results lagged.
What were the targets? Documents tied to the Activision Blizzard takeover had concrete projections: about 77M Game Pass subs by 2026 and 100M by 2030. Reality (growth rate, churn, etc.) is a long way from those figures. In short: planned vs. actual — a gap.
Sharma also floated an even bigger aim: 1 billion daily players for XBOX. Today, the brand reaches ~1B gamers per year (see this post), not every day. For context, Steam runs at ~147M monthly users and PlayStation’s network had ~125M monthly players from Jan–Mar 2026 (source). To hit 1B daily would require growth the industry hasn’t seen before — which, as Windows Central notes, is a gigantic ask.
A few practical moves may matter more than slogans. In April 2026 the monthly Game Pass fee was cut (reported here), yet at the same time new entries in the Call of Duty franchise won’t land on the service at launch. Expect a roughly one‑year delay before the likes of Modern Warfare 4 appear on Game Pass. Observers worry this could become the norm for other big in‑house releases (coverage). Lower price, slower access — tradeoffs are emerging.