Microsoft misses their 77M subscriber goal for Game Pass

Microsoft predicted that Xbox Game Pass would have 77 million subscribers by 2026. But unfortunately, they miscalculated because it only reached 30 million.

Xbox Game Pass has been one of the most important pillars of Microsoft's gaming strategy for years and years, but this latest report actually reveals that the company was extremely far from the ambitious goals and standards it had set for itself. According to internal projections shown during the Activision Blizzard acquisition trial, Microsoft actually expected Xbox Game Pass to reach 77 million subscribers by 2026. But instead, it has only 30 million users. An extremely small number compared to what they had projected.

The difference between the target they set and reality is as much as 47 million subscribers. Reports also state that even the massive Activision Blizzard acquisition, as well as the arrival of major new games in the service, failed to boost growth anywhere near as much as Microsoft had expected. On top of that, Xbox Game Pass reportedly lost some subscribers after its price increase during 2025.

These new details have sparked plenty of reactions among gamers. One group believes that the goal of 77 million subscribers was far too ambitious from the very beginning. Meanwhile, another group of fans believes that the price increases, the offerings, and the changes negatively affected interest in Xbox Game Pass. Besides that, many also point out that 30 million subscribers is still an incredibly large user base, despite not meeting Microsoft's expectations at all.

Game Pass remains one of the biggest subscription services in the gaming industry, but the new data shows that its growth did not go the way Microsoft had planned.

With around 30 million subscribers instead of the planned 77 million, the company is now forced to rethink part of its Xbox strategy, which is already being reflected through major organizational changes and restructuring within its gaming division.