Gaming Subscriptions Reach 'All-Time High' But Xbox Series X|S Sales Suffer In May 2025 Analysis (US)

If it’s only $0.6b in the US for every sub then I’m now doubting the $500m per month claim of GP that people use.

US is by far the biggest Xbox market. So even if it was 50% of that total Gamepass (it’s certainly not that by any stretch) they would still need to be finding $200m from rest of the world so seems a stretch.

Consoles sales are terrible for the biggest market too - but software is doing good.

(Again I think as a product GP is ‘profitable’ but MS are very good at hiding costs elsewhere - as any business should)

PS5 looks like it's gonna be a similar beast to PS4, MS offering no competition even in their home market any more, and yet they still make games that I love.

As long as the Devs keep supporting Xbox, I'm good

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Gamepass was almost $1b a quarter the last time MS gave information a couple years back. I suspect if it went over $1b a quarter they would have announced it at a shareholder meeting. Who knows though.

Ironically the current financial climate is made me decide to not renew my subscriptions as they are poor value for myself.

As for Xbox, there are still games I enjoy and am very much looking forward to but they're just a 3rd party publisher to me these days

It makes sense when you consider the Xbox Console is NOT the ONLY Microsoft Platform.

Cloud, whilst not necessarily the best option in terms of quality, it maybe the cheapest and/or best option for the Casual gamer. You don't need a Console, but you are playing on a Microsoft Platform, playing on 'Xbox' built into servers but you don't need to buy your own Xbox.

PC Game Pass and Microsoft Windows - as is Battlenet now - a Microsoft owned platform on PC's. PC's are 'multi-platform' devices - you buy CoD from Steam, you can only play through Steam you don't get the Battlenet PC version. You play on Game Pass, all the DLC and MTX are linked to Microsoft store, even if you buy the game through Game Pass, it will sell you the Microsoft version playable in their Ecosystem (Cloud, PC and Xbox consoles). PC owners are MSS customers, they bought a MS Windows Licence and the games often require MS owned OS and API's to run...

As Microsoft have 'multiple' Platforms now, they aren't going to sell as many Consoles. They can still have 100m users in their Platforms without selling 100m Consoles. They could sell 35m Consoles, have 8m on Cloud devices and 57m on their PC platform (Game Pass PC, Windows and/or Battlenet/Bethesda launchers - not counting Steam/Epic).

I do wonder if MS are about to ditch the Online fees so will lose some Subs for Game Pass Core. I can't see them able to compete with Steam on their own Hardware if that charge remains. Why buy CoD from Microsoft when it requires Game Pass Core to play, but buy it on Steam and you don't need GPC at all. Of course you won't get Achievements or be able to play Anywhere the Microsoft ecosystem is, just the Steam version and anywhere Steam is.

Therefore, they may be planning to ditch that and preparing to lose a 'chunk' of Subscription revenue in the hopes that it will lead to more 'growth' of users long term - more users, more income. The games too are Microsoft products (even if sold on other Platforms), so they get revenue and time spent in the Products - Hardware, Software or services. They are still Microsoft Customers using Microsoft Products.

@Millionski you could be right on the ps5 sales, my only scepticism would be that prices have remained high and even risen. It'll be close though.

Yeah, Devs won't follow a more powerful series X so it needs something to attract then for sure!

@Millionski NO - MS are NOT getting rid of their Consoles - at least NOT the messaging they are putting out. They announced they had partnered with AMD for their NEXT CONSOLES.

Regardless of whether it also is more a 'PC' in that its more 'multi-platform' hardware with access to Steam, Epic etc, that doesn't mean that people will buy from Steam - maybe the games MS doesn't sell, but buy from Steam, you lose all the 'Xbox/MS' based features - like Achievements and Play Anywhere, and your Xbox purchases are NOT on Steam. Steam is a separate PC platform - Microsoft have their own too. Game Pass PC Games and ALL the DLC/MTX etc are locked to 'Microsoft' - You won't get Game Pass discounts on Steam (discounts just because you Subscribe), won't get Xbox games free 'Day 1' with your Game Pass Subscription, won't get achievements and may not even have 'Cross-progression' between Steam & MS versions on the SAME Platform.

Their entire PC gaming is 'Xbox', they may also sell some games on Steam that require MS Windows and MS Direct X API's to work, which really impacts them negatively on Steamdeck and can make them unplayable (don't work well with the Proton Layer) but on a Windows PC with Windows API, playing on Steam is not much of an issue. That alone can make a difference to 'where' you choose to buy.

At the end of the day, where ever you choose to buy from, Microsoft are benefitting. You are buying a Microsoft product to spend time in a Microsoft IP and maybe even spend money it that IP's store front buying MTX/DLC content - so are still a Microsoft Customer. You may choose to buy their Hardware to play their games and spend money in their ecosystem but also own a PS5 so the Xbox is just for Exclusives, another may play on PC through Game Pass or Microsoft or choose to buy from Steam/Epic but MS is still making money, still getting revenue from their Products, their Platforms, their Services - its not just 1 Platform and ONLY Sales revenue coming in. You can buy games now to Stream via Cloud so they can 'sell' to those who just Stream and of course they can seell Subs on FAR more Platforms than just their Console - the 'best Value' in Gaming Service is available on so many devices, MS have basically put an Xbox in EVERY Household - like Netflix is. You only need to buy Hardware to get better visual quality and/or performance and MS have a 'budget' Console, a Premium Console or you can buy/build your own custom PC hardware. You don't buy a Series S if you own a Series X so why buy a Series X if you own a decent PC?

They obviously don't want to 'lose' money on Hardware as most Consoles are sold at a Loss - especially in the early days. Maybe its better to only sell 35-40m units instead of 100m+. Even if you are losing just $10 - $350-400m is not as bad as losing 1bn and its not as if you can't have 100m across all your Platforms Cloud, Console and PC (excluding Steam, Epic, GoG on PC) - Battlenet and Bethesda.net are both Microsoft and Battlenet is more Popular for CoD than Steam is with Xbox Consoles being even more Popular. Why buy from Steam when you can play Free on Game Pass, get discounts off of CoD Points (15% discount as a GP subscriber) and get 20% discount if/when you do choose to buy!

@Millionski oh yeah, I don't mean in relation to Xbox. That ship has sailed long ago. I just mean that because we're not seeing the deep mid and end of cycle discounts I don't see ps5 quite matching PS4 sales by the end of it. They've probably already picked up a few Xbone players who didn't like the direction MS were headed in.

Remember, this is only a 3% YoY rise over last May, and sales had already started to slow down in 2024 (plus this is N America only).

Guess GTA VI will be the big revealer. PS4 didn't have a game like that.

@Millionski Then why care at all about what Microsoft do or the way they choose to do it?

The 'Xbox' only came about because Microsoft wanted a way to bring 'PC' games to the mainstream, more affordable market. They only got into hardware because NO other hardware existed to do that - a way to make DirectX important for Game development on PC was also to make it 'important' for their Console.

You might not 'care' about Achievements, but that's part of Xbox and What your Xbox History of Games has 'achieved' together. That Profile with your achievements, your friends, your Library has been (or could be for some) their entire 25yrs of Xbox gaming and the Majority of Digital Xbox owned Games are still playable today on a Series X. The Hardware is not really that important, not as important as the Games and your Library. You either bought it because it was 'cheap' or because it had Microsoft Games that you want to play. You either upgrade to the next, to keep your Digital Library, Achievements etc, or buy 'different' hardware because they have more Games you want to play.

If the Games are there, people will play Xbox has a presence on PC - whether you like it or not and now with Gaming PC's become far more affordable as Consoles also are becoming more expensive, the whole reason Microsoft made a Console so more people could access 'their' games and many other great PC games has become obsolete. The 'cheapest' way is now going to be Cloud so your 'Xbox' Profile is still important and a Xbox user and still playing on 'Xbox'. That Profile is your 'Xbox' account as well as your Microsoft account, why with Ultimate you can play on PC and Cloud - because its all part of the Microsoft 'Xbox' Ecosystem. Game Pass doesn't link Steam games to buy and the Xbox/MS app won't advertise 'Steam' games, it just lets you launch them if you've installed them. Delete it, despite still being able to download from steam, it no longer appears in your Library on Xbox.

Its not like Steam is being 'advertised' and when you see 'new' games advertised or coming soon, its only going to take you to the Microsoft Store. You probably can go on Steam and browse their Catalogue, but you have to go to their app specifically to 'buy' and manage your games you own on Steam.

They also get 100% of all the Money through their OWN platforms - that includes Cloud where 'buying' is possible for a growing number of Games but its really more for the casual/budget limited gamer right now. Game Pass PC and their own PC platform they get 100% of ALL their games and 30% for all 3rd Party releases too - Game Pass links to MS store so if 3rd Party games leave, they link to the MS store version, your save and progress is locked to MS Platforms.

Yes you can play on 'other' platforms, but MS doesn't have to sell their games on EVERY PC Platform Day/date, they could treat Steam like Sony and only release some games there.

Even if you still refuse to buy from Microsoft, they'll still make money from you if you choose to buy from steam - they've still got you to 'buy' a game you maybe could have played free on Game Pass and/or also played on your Xbox console, your mobile phone, your LG/Samsung TV or Amazon Firestick, not just the Steamdeck/PC

And as for Consoles - its entirely possible that they do a 'two' tiered approach like this Gen - this time the 'S' could be a Handheld ALL-Digital Xbox but won't let you play Steam or other PC platforms whilst their Console that sits under the TV will. It may not let you boot to the Full windows 11 desktop, all the processes that are turned off are permanently turned off/removed so MS retain Control - only letting a few 3rd Party Platforms on their Console

@PsBoxSwitchOwner It probably fluctuates by month depending on how many are paying every month or three months. I think you can still buy 12 months of Core, I dunno. But I’m sure that makes it fluctuate

@kmtrain83 What I mean is that these games are built around Windows and DirectX so built with features like Direct Storage which isn't emulated well on Proton and can make games unplayable on Steamdeck because it doesn't have Windows built in. The point of Proton is to emulate Windows/Direct X in those games built to utilise Windows. However, MS only build their PC games for Windows PC and maybe utilising features of DX12 Ultimate that Proton doesn't emulate or emulate well. It's a bit like expecting Sony to let you play Xbox via emulation because technically they have the same hardware structure as every other gaming device - the Proton Layer was Valves/Steam way of emulating Windows/Direct X for their Linux based (so no 'Windows/DirectX') handheld. Microsoft sold them for 'PC' to Steam so its Steam's responsibility to ensure their 'platform' plays PC versions built to use MS Windows/Direct X.

That's different to releasing 'inferior' versions to sabotage, it's not sabotaging them if you play on any Windows PC. The point is that their Games are built for 'their' platform first and foremost. You must have a 'Windows PC' or rely on 3rd Party Emulation - which is currently not as expensive as running Windows in its current full state - but that's with all the non essential to gaming processes are running too which is what Xbox & Windows are working on for the RoG Xbox Ally (and other Handhelds) because Windows etc is using too much of the Hardware's very 'limited' resources - Xbox usually has a portion partitioned off for OS and background processes but PC's don't.

It's not about Sabotaging, its more about trying to make your own place the 'best' place by the entire treatment of you as a gamer whilst also trying to run a business. Game Pass links to their ecosystem, Games are more expensive, people will see more games they 'recognise' in Game Pass and its value and link to MS store, their Xbox Library grows with DLC/MTX as well, you want to buy from MS because your achievements are growing and its everywhere you can sign in and game - not just the Box or Handheld device you had to buy specifically, but your bedroom TV, your mobile phone etc - you already have a 'Xbox' in your home, whether you'd really want to game on it or not. Steam you have to buy, you can't Sub and get these games Free like you can with Microsoft!! That's the BIG point here - you aren't buying on Steam for $80 when you have Game Pass, if it leaves Game Pass, you'll likely buy from Xbox to keep progress and get the discount...

I think playstation realized that mlb forcing the show to go multiplat was the best thing to happen to the franchise. They are going to release more multiplat games going forward.

It is ironic that the company that "trains consumers not to buy games" is selling more games than anyone else.

They raised the price of the game hardware and did not advertise it at all.
There was no way the hardware would sell.

Xbox sales were already awful, if they stayed even or even had slight growth, that would still be terrible.

It's remarkable that they are able to continue dropping massive percentages like this.