Xbox's Game Pass subscription service, launched in 2017 by then-Xbox head Phil Spencer as a "Netflix for games", was designed to rescue the brand after the disappointing Xbox One generation and offer players day-one access to first-party titles for a monthly fee. Nearly a decade on, the article argues the service has instead become a drag on Microsoft's gaming business, undermining traditional game sales and drawing sustained criticism from publishers who fear it devalues their products.

The Xbox One sold only 58 million units, well behind the 117 million-selling PlayStation 4, prompting Spencer to pursue Game Pass as a bold gamble, backed by confidence gained from Microsoft's $2.5 billion Mojang acquisition. The service launched at $9.99 a month with 100 backwards-compatible games before expanding to include first-party titles like Halo and Gears of War on release day. While early press coverage was enthusiastic, critics such as Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick and analysts including Brendan Sinclair warned early on that opaque streaming metrics made it harder for developers to judge a game's commercial success compared with traditional sales figures.