Microsoft indirectly admitted, in its latest report submitted to the British Competition Authority, that its Game Pass service is hurting game sales. This acknowledgement wasn't direct, but it was elicited through numbers, and the reasons for this are outlined below, as per the company's statement.

In a highly anticipated new revelation, Microsoft has revealed that Game Pass is causing a decline in game sales on the service. The revelation comes thanks to an interim report from the UK Competition and Markets Authority, released as part of an ongoing investigation into the company's merger with Activision Blizzard, and contradicts statements made by Phil Spencer himself.

The report presented acknowledged that the service doesn't generate the desired revenue. Of course, it targets players and, in return, suffers significant financial losses. The report states the following:

Microsoft provided its internal analysis showing that sales of base games declined twelve months after adding them to Game Pass.

This has long been speculated to be the case, but this report from GamesIndustry.biz provides the first official confirmation of the reality of the situation. The report stands in stark contrast to previous statements made by Phil Spencer in an interview with LevelUp.com, where Spencer confirmed at the time that profits are being made from games added to the service from day one, resulting from the increased player numbers of these games.

He cited, for example, the games Forza Horizon 4 and State of Decay 2. Spencer said at the time that the proof of his words are the analyses of the company NPD, which specializes in tracking game sales.

Will this service really have an unknown future within the company, based on these results after all these years? Share with us in the comments section below.

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