There is no doubt that XGP is an important part of the Xbox business. Microsoft has invested a lot of money in this service, including third-party games. So how much is the specific amount? According to Xbox boss Spencer, GamePass is a viable service in terms of financial expenditure and can make money for Microsoft, but the annual fee paid for third-party games exceeds $1 billion.
This is certainly a huge number, but not entirely surprising. Earlier this year, the purchase prices of some third-party games on GamePass were exposed, including US$5 million for "Gotham Knights", US$100 million for "Assassin's Creed: Visions", US$300 million for "Star Wars Jedi: Survivors", etc.
Players will question the viability and longevity of GamePass given the large expense, but Spencer said the service will be sustainable. As of January 2022, there are more than 25 million GamePass subscribers.
Microsoft has already revealed its ambition to expand into mobile gaming, which is one of the reasons why it acquired Activision Blizzard. To this end, the Xbox mobile store has been brewing for some time, and there are signs of acceleration recently.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently said in an interview with Bloomberg that Microsoft is actively developing a mobile Xbox store and is discussing with partners about providing mobile games in the store to make money. He said: "This is an important part of our strategy and what we are doing now. We will also work with partners who also want to make money from this project."
As for when the mobile store will be built, PhilSpencer did not specify a specific time, but it should not take many years. This is not the first time Microsoft has talked about mobile stores. The company said in October last year that it was developing the next generation of mobile stores to compete with Apple and Google.