Another day, another Xbox rumor! Today’s revolves around Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s controversy-prone subscription service giving access to hundreds of games on a monthly subscription.
Xbox Game Pass took a battering last year when Microsoft made the spectacularly ill-advised move of making it $30 a month — a 50% increase. In one fell swoop, Microsoft destroyed one of its most stable revenue drivers for its gaming operation, leading to the biggest decline its seen in its history.
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma remarked a few weeks ago that, now that Game Pass Ultimate has returned to a far more respectable $22 per month, they’ve started seeing growth return to the service. But I am curious if it’s anywhere near back to previous levels.
Indeed, Asha previously spoke about Game Pass retention, and the business model revolves entirely around offsetting churn, i.e., the number of users subscribing month in, month out. If you make it too expensive, you risk users unsubscribing and never coming back. Subscription services work best when people subscribe and then … just leave it rolling in perpetuity. If you make it so expensive that it becomes discretionary spending, it’s going to end up being a net loss per head, rather than habit-forming perpetual income.
That’s why I’m casting “big doubt” over this latest Xbox Game Pass rumor, which suggests Microsoft is no longer planning to new third-party funding for new Game Pass titles (via Insider Gaming).
During an episode of The Business of Gaming PodcastFernando Rizo of Caboodle Games shared rumors that Microsoft “rug pulled” Game Pass deals from industry colleagues Rizo had spoken with recently.
“I was at a trade show in Italy, had some nice lunches, some nice dinners with industry colleagues. Word on the street was that loads of people who were in the frame for Game Pass deals. You know, nothing was inked yet, but the deals were in advanced discussions. Everybody got the rug pulled out from under them.”
I’m not doubting the idea that Microsoft cancelled discussions. But it has been used to frame an idea that Xbox is done completely with third-party deals for Xbox Game Pass.
Right now, Xbox is undergoing something of a “reset,” with new CEO Asha Sharma and CSO Matthew Ball reviewing practically every corner of the business, including deals like the above. Microsoft’s fiscal year is ending too, where budgets will be allocated (or re-allocated). Microsoft is exploring closing down entire studios at Xbox as part of this “review,” so it stands to reason that some ID@Xbox deals might’ve been skewered in the cross-fire. I know of at least one example of a third-party Game Pass deal that didn’t go through as a direct result of July re-budgeting.
Yeah, no. From someone who works in publishing, has had games in game pass (won’t say more) this isnt even remotely true. Crazy thing to spread.June 28, 2026
But that doesn’t mean they’re done with Xbox Game Pass deals forever. Indeed, at least one industry publishing figure Stephen DuCrest poured cold water on the rumors earlier, saying it wasn’t “remotely true.”
Even if some deals had fallen through, I would expect as soon as next week or the week after when Microsoft’s next fiscal starts, discussions for funding will immediately resume. The bottom line is simple: Xbox Game Pass needs content in order to operate. With Xbox rumored to be gutting first-party content, I expect it to lean even more into third-party deals, rather than less. But hey, Microsoft works in mysterious ways, as we all know.
Either way, I’ve reached out to Microsoft and other sources to get some firm clarification, but wanted to share some thoughts ahead of that. I’ll update this article soon with more info.
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