Mike Brown, a former director on Forza Horizon 5 at Playground Games who now leads development at new studio Maverick Games, has criticised Xbox Game Pass, arguing that too few people subscribed to make the service financially viable. Speaking to MinnMax about the recent restructuring at Xbox, which has led to widespread layoffs and studio divestitures, Brown said Microsoft invested heavily in the subscription concept, funding numerous studios and games in the hope of regularly delivering new content, but that the underlying business model has not worked out as intended.

Brown said Game Pass remained "a good idea" in principle, aiming to make a diverse range of games affordable and accessible, but that its failure to attract enough subscribers is now resulting in studio closures and job losses. This follows reports that subscriber numbers have fallen well short of targets, prompting new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to reverse last year's price increase, partly by bringing new Call of Duty titles to Game Pass on release day. Brown also praised former Xbox executive Sarah Bond, who left her role earlier this year following Sharma's appointment, describing her as sharp and impressive.