One of the biggest selling points of Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft's first-party input, but the team also puts lots of time, energy and ultimately money, into bringing valuable third-party content to the service. Some of Game Pass's day one coups are fantastic, and as it turns out, those coups cost quite a bit of money for Microsoft to secure.
Speaking with Windows Central recently, Xbox's Phil Spencer discussed Xbox Game Pass both from a first-party perspective and in regards to bringing other team's titles to the library. In that exchange, Phil threw out an eye-watering figure for how much Microsoft spends on third-party Game Pass content:
"We've put a lot of money into the market, over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games coming into Game Pass."
While a billion dollars a year sounds like an awful lot of money to be spending on getting stuff for Game Pass, Phil again insists that the subscription service "is financially viable" and that it "makes money" - despite questions about the amount of investment Microsoft is putting into it vs. the money it generates.
It's been quite the year for day one Game Pass launches too, so we can definitely believe that sort of figure for 2023. This year, we've seen third-party titles like Monster Hunter Rise, Atomic Heart, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Amnesia: The Bunker, Exoprimal, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Sea of Stars, Lies of P and many more arrive on day one. It's been a hell of a lineup!