Phil Spencer says he ‘doesn’t envision’ a time when every Xbox user subscribes to Game Pass

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has stressed that Game Pass isn’t the company’s sole focus going forwards.

In an interview in the latest issue of Edge magazine, Spencer was asked if Game Pass is the sole focus for Xbox going forwards.

“No, it’s not,” he replied. “And I know it’s easy – I’m not picking on you when I say that, but you know, the thing I get a lot is ‘it’s all about X’, or ‘it’s all about Y or Z’.

“And when you’re running the platform, it’s all about X, Y and Z, right? It’s all of those things.”

He added: “Do I want, or do I envision, everybody who’s on Xbox being a Game Pass subscriber? I don’t.

“I want people to make their choice. Some people want to buy all the games we ship and create their own library.”

In the same interview, Spencer reiterated his belief that Game Pass made good business sense, something that has been questioned by the likes of Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan and former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden in the past.

“Subscriptions give you a good continual revenue stream,” Spencer told Edge. “And that’s an important thing for any business, on top of the spikes that you’ll get around certain retail releases.

“That’s why I talk about it really being a mix of things. It’s not about one muscling out another.

“The business doesn’t hinge on any one number. The retail sales number, the console sales number, the Windows engagement, Game Pass, xCloud engagement… it’s really all of these things coming together.”

This isn’t the first time Spencer has stressed that Game Pass is sustainable, but not the company’s sole focus.

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In an interview with Axios last month, Spencer claimed that Xbox Game Pass is already “sustainable” in its current state, and will only grow larger.

In the same interview, Spencer added that the growth of Game Pass is part of Xbox’s strategy, but it’s not the company’s sole focus.

“It’s not the only thing that’s growing in Xbox,” he explained. “It’s not the only focus of the organisation, and it, as a standalone thing, is very sustainable as it sits today. It’s sustainable.

“I know there are a lot of people that like to write [that] we’re burning cash right now for some future pot of gold at the end. No. Game Pass is very, very sustainable right now as it sits and it continues to grow.”

Xbox Game Pass launched in June 2017 and has become central to Microsoft’s gaming business, attracting over 18 million subscribers as of January 2021, according to the latest publicly announced figure.