In an interview broadcast today during the Game Developers Conference and focusing on maximizing the value of a video game, Microsoft shares some interesting figures on Xbox Game Pass, its flagship subscription service at the heart of its conquest strategy. .
Audience, engagement and business, three pillars for a Game Pass game
“Xbox Game Pass is the ultimate discovery engine for your game. Find out how Game Pass can help increase player awareness and engagement and increase the total value of your title. This is how Microsoft introduces these new figures aimed at making developers want to take the plunge and offer their game in the service.
The brand is thus trying to attract more developers, but also to show how the Game Pass helps to promote the other games available in the Xbox ecosystem. Here are the three main advantages of offering your game in the Game Pass according to Microsoft:
- Make your game better known and reach new audiences;
- Create commitment, even bring back former fans;
- Develop your potential.
A subscription that must stand out from the others and always offer more good games
As Microsoft reminds us, the appeal of Game Pass is also in competition with other services that sometimes go beyond video games. Americans have an average of 9 subscription services and have 25 connected objects at home. Many sources of distraction when dinner is over and it’s time to keep busy. Turning on Netflix, listening to music, hanging out on your laptop, turning on the PC or… playing a game. For Microsoft, the challenge for a developer is therefore to stand out from the crowd, and that’s where the Xbox Game Pass must help them.
Xbox’s vision for its service is to make it the ultimate video game discovery engine, no less. To do this, the Xbox teams are busy creating a catalog of diverse and varied experiences available on different devices such as consoles, PC, mobile, and tomorrow televisions.
To attract more and more players, the Xbox Game Pass must be renewed regularly and offer as many quality games as possible. Thus, since the launch of the service, 60 games having received “game of the year” awards have been available in the catalog.
What are the benefits of Xbox Game Pass for developers?
We see it every month on Xboxygen, some games are released directly into Game Pass, on their first day of availability, and others arrive a few months or years later. For Microsoft, this is not a problem, and it depends on the strategy that the publisher and/or the developer wishes to adopt. Here are the different ways Game Pass can help a publisher or developer achieve their goals:
- Launching a game: to reach a large audience very quickly;
- Game lifecycle management: Game Pass can be used to renew player interest in a previously released game;
- Accelerate transactions: because the game reaches a new and large audience ready to invest in new experiences;
- Incentivize the creation of a franchise: Release the latest iteration of this franchise in Game Pass to expand the audience, once once more.
According to Eugene Kim, who works in the Game Pass team on content planning, the service gives more possibilities to both creators and players. Here’s how in some key numbers shared today.
Encourage discovery
- People who join Game Pass typically play 40% more games than before. This stat compares the 90 days before and following joining the service.
- People who join Game Pass play 30% more new genres than before. Which means that the variety of the catalog makes you want to discover titles that you don’t usually play.
- On average, a game that arrives in Game Pass sees its number of players increase by x8.4 compared to if it was not there. This multiplier ranges from x1.6 for games that already have a huge audience, up to x28 for niche games.
- When a “big” game releases directly to Game Pass, and compared to similar games that do not release directly to Game Pass, the number of active users is on average 3.5x higher during the first 30 days in favor of the game available in the Game Pass. This multiplier increases to 15x for independent play.
Create engagement
- If we look at the tags used on social networks or the mentions on Instagram/Reddit/YouTube/Facebook and other social networks, on average, a game that is advertised in Game Pass generates 3x more “social conversation” than in the previous 90 days.
- Game Pass members have on average 3x more social connections than other gamers.
- Game Pass members are on average 4x more likely to start a stream on Twitch than others.
Generate value
- Game Pass members spend on average 3x more money than others.
- On average, when a game arrives in Game Pass, the number of transactions (DLC, various content) generated in the following 90 days is multiplied by 2.8.
- 67% of this revenue is generated by Game Pass members following the game arrives in the service.
- 50% of this revenue is generated by Game Pass members who discover the game through the service.
- Revenues generated by the ID@Xbox program, which promotes independent games, have quadrupled in 4 years. And the most interesting thing is that 2/3 of this income is generated thanks to Game Pass and the performance bonus program put in place by Microsoft for creators.
Microsoft concludes by stating that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate perks also generate value for the games. Xbox announces that participants in the benefits program have spent $ 175 million on free games called “free to play”. This includes games such as Warframe, World of Warship or even Phantasy Star Online 2.