Game subscriptions are stalling
For a decade the industry bet that games would follow TV and music into one monthly fee for a big library, and that bet drove huge acquisitions. Subscriber numbers have since stalled well short of company plans, and prices have gone up instead.
Where it stands
Xbox Game Pass is reported to have about 30 million paying subscribers, far below the 77 million Microsoft's internal plan projected for this point. A steep price rise in late 2025 drove people away, and Microsoft partly reversed it in 2026. Sony has stopped publishing PlayStation Plus numbers. Companies are now trimming what subscribers get. From November 2026, Xbox limits how much cloud streaming each tier includes and sells extra hours separately.
- Xbox Game Pass
- PlayStation Plus
PlayStation Plus stopped growing in 2021 and Game Pass is reported to be shrinking. Microsoft's own plan had Game Pass at about 77 million by now.
~Game Pass in July 2026: about 30 million paying subscribers. This is a Wall Street Journal report, not a Microsoft announcement, so it is marked as approximate.
| Year | Xbox Game Pass | PlayStation Plus |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 15 | 41.5 |
| 2021 | 18 | 47.6 |
| 2022 | 25 | 47.4 |
| 2023 | n/a | 47.4 |
| 2024 | 34 | n/a |
| 2025 | n/a | n/a |
| 2026 | ~30 | n/a |
Timeline
2022
Microsoft plans for 77 million Game Pass subscribers by mid-decade
Microsoft's internal plan, written in 2022 and made public during the legal fight over its Activision purchase, had Game Pass reaching about 77 million subscribers by the middle of the decade and more than 100 million by 2030. The service had 25 million at the time.
2023
Sony publishes a PlayStation Plus subscriber count for the last time
Sony reports 47.4 million PlayStation Plus subscribers at the end of March, the same as a year earlier and slightly below 2021's 47.6 million. It is the last time Sony gives a number. Since then it has reported only percentages.
2024
Microsoft publishes a Game Pass subscriber count for the last time
Microsoft says Game Pass has 34 million subscribers, up from 25 million two years earlier. It is the last figure the company has given.
2025
Microsoft raises Game Pass Ultimate by 50%
Microsoft raises Game Pass Ultimate, its top tier, from $19.99 to $29.99 a month and reorganizes the service into three tiers. The cheaper two, Essential at $9.99 and Premium at $14.99, keep their prices.
US subscription spending grows 20% in a flat market
US spending on game subscriptions grows 20% in 2025, in a year when total spending on games rose 1.4% to $60.7 billion.
Entertainment Software Association, on Circana's figures (January 2026)
2026
Microsoft partly reverses the price rise and delays Call of Duty
Microsoft cuts Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 a month and PC Game Pass from $16.49 to $13.99. New Call of Duty games will no longer arrive on the service at launch, coming about a year later instead. Even after the cut, Ultimate costs 35% more than two years earlier.
Subscriptions are the only part of US game spending that grows
In June, subscriptions grow 7% from a year earlier. Total US spending falls 21% to $4.5 billion, and spending on games and what is sold inside them falls 12%.
Game Pass is reported at 30 million subscribers, not 77 million
The Wall Street Journal reports that Game Pass is down to about 30 million paying subscribers, 4 million fewer than in 2024. Microsoft's own leadership says the 2025 price rise cost the service millions of subscribers. Microsoft has not confirmed the figure.
Kotaku, Ethan Gach, on The Wall Street Journal (6 July 2026)
Microsoft caps how many hours subscribers can stream from the cloud
Starting in November, Microsoft limits cloud streaming, the part of Game Pass that lets subscribers play without downloading: 15 hours a month on Ultimate, 10 on Premium, and 5 on Essential, with extra hours sold separately. Microsoft says about 4% of subscribers play more than that.
Xbox Wire, Upcoming changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming (3 September 2026)
Microsoft offers discounts to win back lapsed subscribers
Within a week of announcing the cloud caps, Microsoft begins offering lapsed and some current Ultimate subscribers 12-month discounts reported at $16 to $20 a month, as much as 30% below the list price. It is a targeted win-back offer rather than a change to the list price. The reports come from subscribers sharing their offers, and Microsoft has not confirmed them.
Cost becomes the main reason people cancel
Circana's survey of Americans who canceled a games subscription: more than 40% of those leaving Game Pass or PlayStation Plus say cost was the main reason, up from 37% at the start of the year. For Nintendo Switch Online it is 50%, up from 40%.
Eurogamer, Kaan Serin, on Mat Piscatella's Circana figures (11 September 2026)
Consequences
012025
Fewer subscribers, more money from each
The number of subscribers has stopped growing, but the money has not. US spending on game subscriptions rose 20% in 2025, the year Microsoft raised its top tier by half. When a service cannot add subscribers, growth has to come from charging the ones it has more.
Entertainment Software Association, on Circana's figures (January 2026)
022026
The plan behind the acquisitions has not happened
Microsoft spent $68.7 billion on Activision with a plan that had Game Pass at about 77 million subscribers by now. It is reported to have about 30 million. The company's new leadership has said its Game Pass bets did not grow as fast as expected, and the shortfall is one of the reasons given for this year's Xbox layoffs.
Kotaku, Ethan Gach, on The Wall Street Journal (6 July 2026)
032026
The bundle shrinks while the price stays high
Subscribers get less for more. Game Pass was sold on getting Microsoft's biggest games the day they came out. New Call of Duty games now arrive about a year late, and the price is still 35% above where it was two years ago. Christopher Dring expects further changes, because the service is growing slowly.
Objections
Counterpoint2026
In dollars, subscriptions are still growing
Measured in money, subscriptions are not plateauing at all. They were the only part of US game spending that grew in June 2026, up 7% while the whole market fell 21%. The plateau is in subscriber numbers. In dollars, this is the healthiest part of the business.
Counterpoint2026
Blaming the price is not the same as more people leaving
That more people blame the price does not mean more people are leaving. Mat Piscatella says so himself: his figure is the share of reasons given by people who canceled, and says nothing about how many canceled.
Eurogamer, Kaan Serin, on Mat Piscatella's Circana figures (11 September 2026)
Counterpoint2025
The companies have stopped publishing the numbers
Nobody outside the companies knows the real figures. Microsoft last gave a count in February 2024, Sony in March 2023. The 30 million is a newspaper report. Other estimates have pointed the other way: Omdia put Game Pass at 33.3 million at the end of 2023, and Game Rant estimated 38 million in mid-2025, before the price rise.
What to watch
2026
What the cloud limit does in November
November 2026, when the cloud streaming limits start and Microsoft sets the price of extra hours. The test is whether the 4% who play the most pay for more time or leave.
Xbox Wire, Upcoming changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming (3 September 2026)
2027
Whether subscription spending grows without a price rise
Circana's full-year US figures, due in January 2027. Subscription spending grew 20% in 2025 on the back of a price rise that has since been partly reversed. The figures will show whether it keeps growing without one.
Further reading
- ReportingMicrosoft's Game Pass performance is far below expectationswsj.com
- DataSubscriptions are the only growing segment, but barely, inside a market down 21%gamedevreports.substack.com
- ReportingMore than 40% of people cancelling Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions blame rising costseurogamer.net
Where to follow it The Verge Xbox coverage, WSJ tech desk, Circana subscription spending data, Microsoft earnings
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