A NewZoo study shows that Game Pass subscribers will "try" many games, but most games won't continue to play, and players who spend more than $50 to buy games are more likely to play for longer.

Recently, foreign media clawsomegamer released a report titled "New research says Game Pass has not changed the way Xbox players play, but it has hurt the sales of 3A games."

The article points out:

·Xbox Game Pass was originally advertised as the "Netflix in the game world" that can change players' gaming habits, but Newzoo's latest research found that it did not actually change the player's gaming time or number significantly.

·The behavior of Xbox players and PlayStation players is not much different.Although Game Pass users will try many games, they rarely stick to playing for a long time.

·This "try it everywhere" behavior has led to a decline in sales of 3A game masterpieces on the Xbox platform. For example, "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6" sold less than in previous years.

Indie and mid-sized games have less impact, as subscribers aren't going to buy them anyway.

Conclusion: Game Pass changes not how to play games, but how to buy games. This is a good thing for players, but it may be a bad thing for game sales (especially the masterpieces on Xbox).

Original text of foreign media reports:

When Phil Spencer took the stage to announce the Xbox Game Pass a few years ago, many people called it a revolution—“Netflix of the gaming world,” they said.Fast forward to 2025, and Game Pass seems to do more harm than good.This service was supposed to change the way we play, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

According to a new study by industry analytics firm Newzoo, the service may not change player habits at all…and maybe even cannibalizing sales of big games.

On the Game Wise podcast of the Australian Interactive Games and Entertainment Association, Emmanuel "Manu" Rozier, director of marketing intelligence at Newzoo, revealed that the company found that there was no obvious difference between the way Xbox Game Pass subscribers and PlayStation players participate in the game.

"We noticed one thing, which surprised us a little. Despite Microsoft's huge investment in Game Pass - acquiring many studios and launching very high-quality games in the service - we still have a hard time finding a significantly different behavior pattern compared to PlayStation players."

Rozier said Xbox players didn’t play more games than PlayStation players, nor did they spend more time playing games, “so we were a little surprised and didn’t see a clear ‘Game Pass effect’ in player behavior.”

One of Newzoo's research methods is to only count games that players play for more than two hours, excluding games within the Quick Trial, Trial Edition or Steam Refund Time window.This method reveals a trend: Game Pass users will try many games, but not many people really stick to it for a long time.

“There’s too much content on Game Pass, and if one game doesn’t get you addicted very quickly, you’ll switch to another one and try another one until you find the one that really adds to you.”

This “taste everywhere” behavior seems harmless, but Rozier said it has a negative impact: AAA masterpieces may lose sales as a result.

"We clearly see that Game Pass is eroding sales of three-A-level high-priced games on the Xbox platform."

The most notable example is Black Ops 6, which saw a significant decline in sales on Xbox compared to previous years.

GameDiscoveryCo's Simon Carles noted that indie and 2A game developers may be less affected, as many Game Pass subscribers wouldn't have bought their games in advance.However, his own analysis also supports this "testing" behavior.

“There are indeed many players who experience your game through Game Pass, but it’s more of a ‘try’ way, unlike those who spend over $50 to buy your game, who are more likely to play for a long time.”

If Newzoo's research is accurate, Game Pass hasn't reshapes the way we play games.It is actually reshaping the way we buy games.While this may mean a lot to players, it has also raised questions about the future of game sales, especially on Xbox.