Xbox Game Pass Shows Big Increases In User Engagement At GDC 2022

The latest statistics and information shared by the Microsoft Game Dev team show that perhaps unsurprisingly, Xbox Game Pass is really boosting user engagement and game uplift. In a video posted today, Microsoft Game Dev has shared some insights into how Xbox Game Pass is improving the landscape for developers who want to get their games in front of as wide an audience as possible.

Some of the key nuggets of information gleaned from the video have been summarised by Xbox news source Idle Sloth. In a series of tweets, he’s picked out some of the most interesting statistics around user engagement and playing habits.

In terms of overall engagement, after joining Xbox Game Pass, members play 40% more titles than they would have done without their subscription. These new Game Pass members also play games across 30% more genres and in addition, 90% of Game Pass members have told Microsoft that they’ve played games that without Game Pass, they otherwise wouldn’t have tried out. On top of these figures comes an 8.3 times player lift on back catalogue titles once they come to Game Pass.

In comparison with Steam, player uptake on games is 3.5 times higher on Xbox Game Pass. For new indie games, in particular, the player uplift is 15 times higher when on Game Pass than elsewhere. In terms of larger games from big publishers, player uplift is 3.5 times higher on Game Pass compared to similar games that aren’t.

Perhaps most interesting is the finding that social conversation around a game is boosted by up to 3 times when it’s announced as coming to Game Pass. It seems that Game Pass is also boosting the visibility of many games, with Game Pass members being 4 times more likely to stream on Twitch.

Monetisation is also boosted by Game Pass, with members spending 50% more than non-Game Pass members. Microsoft attributes this to members being more willing to invest in their experiences, which is quite an interesting outcome for the Games as a Service model. According to the video, indie developers have actually seen Game Pass drive their growth by three-figure amounts.

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