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Jonathan Bunney (Codemasters Vice President of Publishing )
“We see it as a way of extending the life of our games and bringing in players who wouldn't necessarily buy the game. speaking as a consumer. I find myself discovering games that I had never heard of, or games that I've heard of but am just not prepared to spend $60.”
Sarah Bond (Microsoft)
On average, according to Bond, Game Pass subscribers spend 20% more time playing games, play 30% more games, play 40% more genres and, crucially, spend about 20% more on gaming overall. That could always change if Game Pass and other subscriptions become a bigger part of the industry overall, but Bond stresses that there’s still a lot of room for overall growth, especially since Xbox is tying its streaming services to Game Pass.
“There are 200 million people who buy a console, and there are 3 billion people who play games,” she says. “Today, a lot of those people don’t have the option to play many of these amazing experiences and iconic games that you see. When you really look at what we’re doing with Game Pass is we’re making that possible by linking that to subscription, and putting our streaming into subscription. We’re able to make the economics of all that work”.
Mike Rose (founder of No More Robots)
“It was a worry for me a few years ago, it's less of a worry for me now,” he says. “With them signing Hypnospace Outlaw and Nowhere Prophet, games that arguably don't fit the game pass model very well and are kind of niche and weird, It eases my concerns a little bit because it seems that they want their spread of games.”
“The effect that we see is that people are playing on Game Pass, they're telling their friends: ‘hey come play this game with me’, they don't want another subscription, so they just go buy the game. We end up getting a ton of players on Game Pass, and we sell a ton as well.”
“The main thing for us is that sales didn't go down,” says Rose. “ You worry that you make the thing free and no one will buy it anymore: that didn't happen.”

Game Pass’ Massive Growth Is Bringing Developers Some Surprises
As Microsoft Game Pass continues it's Katamari-like trek through the industry, the effect on developers isn't always what you'd expect.
