Several rumors are circulating currently which states that Xbox Game Pass, the popular subscription service from Microsoft, will undergo huge changes next year, and one of them include the end of all Day-One releases in the service. Which means if they happen to be true, first party titles would no longer be available on day one in Xbox Game Pass, which can impact the overall player base of the service in multiple ways.
However, in a recent official statement issued to Forbes’ Paul Tassi, Xbox has confirmed that there are currently no news for them to share on changes related to Game Pass, while adding there aren’t any finalized plans either, as of now.
“We regularly test different Game Pass offerings and look at what works best for players in different markets. We don’t have any changes to announce today or plans that have been finalized,” the statement read.
“There are no changes to previously announced games coming to Game Pass Ultimate on day one.”
Xbox Game Pass has been subject to several changes in recent times including a slight decrease in it’s pricing and complete removal of Call of Duty titles from the service on launch day, starting with this year’s Modern Warfare 4. However, if the publisher decides to pull Day-One releases from the system in next year, that will result in the removal of one of the most coveted and attractive incentives for the subscription system and will likely have a divisive effect on the player base of game pass.
Earlier this year, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had revealed that the Game Pass service didn’t nearly became the commercial success the company thought it would be, as Microsoft had originally anticipated Game Pass subscriptions to reach somewhere around 77 million this year, but it currently has hit only about 30 million. Also, based on the FTC vs Microsoft trial in 2023, the company had hoped for a whopping 100 million subscribers by 2030, which seems highly unlikely given where the numbers are at right now.
