Xbox has made its “largest investment in Game Pass to date” in 2025, ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla has revealed.
Speaking to Eurogamer at this year’s Gamescom, Charla explained that “the majority” of Xbox partners who’ve had a game featured on Game Pass “want to bring their future titles to the service.”
“As a result, we’ve signed deals with more than 150 partners to expand the catalogue,” Charla told the publication. “We continue to engage with hundreds of partners each year to review upcoming titles.”
“Last year, we worked with over 50 teams to sign their first Game Pass deal,” Charla continued. “This year marks our largest investment in Game Pass to date, and we remain focused on delivering the most exciting and diverse catalogue in gaming.”
In July 2024, Microsoft increased the price of its existing Xbox Game Pass tiers for new members, before raising prices for existing subscribers in September 2024.
In addition, Microsoft ditched its Game Pass for Console tier and introduced a new $14.99 a month Standard tier, which rolled out in September 2024, but sees subscribers waiting “up to 12 months+” for first-party games – as opposed to the day one launch access granted to subscribers of other tiers.
In response to this price hike announcement, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a letter with the U.S. Court of Appeals, criticizing Microsoft’s pricing changes and saying that the company’s actions were “inconsistent” with what it had previously said about price increases.
“Product degradation – removing the most valuable games from Microsoft’s new service – combined with price increases for existing users, is exactly the sort of consumer harm from the merger the FTC has alleged,” the FTC said in the letter, referencing Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023.
In response, Microsoft called the FTC’s claims “misleading” and “a continuation of the agency’s attempts to reinvent its case on appeal.”
In October 2024, just a month after the price hike came into effect for existing subscribers, Microsoft revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 broke records for Game Pass subscriptions and was the franchise’s biggest launch to date (as well as the first Activision Blizzard title to launch day one on the service following its acquisition).
In July 2025, Microsoft released its financial results for Q4 of its fiscal year 2025, revealing that Xbox content and services revenue had increased 13% year-on-year (YoY).
Amy Hood, executive vice president and CFO of Microsoft, said at the time that the growth was “driven by better-than-expected performance from first-party content and Xbox Game Pass.”
