Xbox Game Pass reaches largest investment to date in 2025 — and the majority of partners want to continue signing new games

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Xbox Game Pass is seeing significant growth and investment. According to Chris Charla, head of ID@Xbox, 2025 is shaping up to be a record year for the service, with a large number of developers eager to continue offering their games through Game Pass. Charla revealed that most developers who have previously released games on Game Pass want to do so again, leading to deals with over 150 partners to expand the game library. Microsoft is actively reviewing hundreds of upcoming titles each year and is investing more resources into the program than ever before, bringing on more development teams.

Last year, we helped more than 50 development teams launch their first game on Game Pass. This year, we’re investing more into Game Pass than ever before, with the goal of offering players the widest variety of amazing games. Through ID@Xbox, we partner with independent developers – many of whom are new to publishing games, and we provide support every step of the way.

A fantastic year for games so far

Everyone has different tastes, so opinions will always vary, but I think this has been the best year yet for Xbox Game Pass.

A big reason is the sheer number of games made by Xbox itself, but there have also been some fantastic games from other developers. One that really stands out to me is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is a strong contender for my game of the year.

It’s a visually stunning game with a beautiful art style and amazing music, all wrapped up in a story that’s stayed with me. It was available on Game Pass from day one and has already sold over 4.4 million copies.

Another recent addition is Frostpunk 2, a survival city-builder from 11 bit studios, which, like the excellent PC version from last year, is included with Game Pass.

And that’s not even mentioning all the other great games I haven’t had a chance to play yet, like Hollow Knight: Silksong.

As prices rise, subscription spending is growing in the U.S.

I’ve been watching the trend of subscription services, and it’s definitely growing in the U.S. Data from Circana shows that spending on non-mobile subscriptions jumped 21% compared to last year, as of July. While Xbox Game Pass isn’t solely responsible for this increase, it’s certainly contributing. Microsoft recently announced that Game Pass revenue exceeded $5 billion in 2025, which is a first. It makes me wonder how long this growth will last, and if upcoming games like the new Call of Duty will give it another boost. What’s really encouraging, though, is that Microsoft is continuing to invest in adding more games to the service. This is great not only for us players, but also for developers who might struggle to get noticed otherwise.

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2025-09-23 00:39