This year has marked Xbox’s “largest investment in Game Pass to date”, according to ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Charla discussed the current state of the subscription service in the face of recent criticism, noting positive sentiment from developers and a desire to return for future projects.
“The majority of partners who’ve had a game in Game Pass want to bring their future titles to the service,” said Charla. “As a result, we’ve signed deals with more than 150 partners to expand the catalogue. 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. 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.”
Xbox has received criticism for Game Pass in recent months. Arkane Studios founder Raphael Colantonio described the service as “an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade”.
In a back and forth on social media on the “cannibalisation” of sales, Larian director of publishing Michael Douse added “smaller teams with new or riskier” games can benefit from Game Pass, but he prefers “Sony’s ‘lifecycle management'” method of adding games following initial sales.