{"id":2054054,"date":"2026-07-21T13:59:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2054054"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:59:47","slug":"xbox-game-pass-was-a-good-idea-in-theory-former-forza-horizon-5-director-says-but-the-reality-is-not-enough-people-have-subscribed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2054054","title":{"rendered":"Xbox Game Pass was a good idea in theory, former Forza Horizon 5 director says, but &#8220;the reality is not enough people have subscribed&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/forza-horizon-5\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Forza Horizon 5<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Xbox Game Pass was a good idea in theory, former Forza Horizon 5 director says, but &#8220;the reality is not enough people have subscribed&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;It&#8217;s just a real shame.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/ss_1da0673f82eccc3c9d222237dec40e36bf10eef3.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Silver sports car driving down sunlit medieval streets in Forza Horizon 5\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"ss_1da0673f82eccc3c9d222237dec40e36bf10eef3.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Playground Games<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-07-21T13:59:47+00:00\">July 21, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/forza-horizon-5-director-comments-xbox-game-pass?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          10 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"6edfe400-b37a-436b-a257-2820c6316701\" data-name=\"Forza Horizon 5\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Forza Horizon 5\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Forza Horizon 5\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Forza Horizon 5\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Forza Horizon 5\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Forza Horizon 5\" title=\"Follow Forza Horizon 5\"><br \/>\n  Follow Forza Horizon 5<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Mike Brown, ex-director on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/forza-horizon-5\">Forza Horizon 5<\/a> at Playground Games, has commented on Xbox&#8217;s current problems and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-game-pass-games-list-this-month-price-6400\">Game Pass<\/a>&#8216; impact on the brand&#8217;s overarching strategy in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Brown, who&#8217;s now leading development on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/maverick-games-reveals-clutch-an-open-world-racer-set-in-the-rather-gorgeous-looking-french-riviera\">open-world racer Clutch<\/a> at newly founded studio Maverick Games, was asked by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X_f9vrPFpm4\">MinnMax<\/a> about the restructuring at Xbox, which led to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">massive round of layoffs and divestiture of some of its studios<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Clutch - Official Reveal Trailer | IGN Summer of Gaming 2026\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vf67m2wkycQ?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/vf67m2wkycQ\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Clutch &#8211; Official Reveal Trailer | IGN Summer of Gaming 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Clutch &#8211; Official Reveal Trailer | IGN Summer of Gaming 2026<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vf67m2wkycQ\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Brown turned his attention to Game Pass and said that he believes they (Xbox) &#8220;invested a fortune in the concept of Game Pass as a service, which led to loads of teams being acquired, loads of games being funded, loads of people getting jobs, all with a vision of getting regular games landing in this service for players&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The reality is not enough people have subscribed to it at the prices that they needed to pay in order to make that business viable. And that&#8217;s actually just really sad because we\u2019re now going to see studios getting shut down or spun off. Loads of people are going to lose their jobs. And that is honestly just a result of a well-meaning player-focused concept of Xbox Game Pass not quite landing,&#8221; Brown explained.<\/p>\n<p>It was recently claimed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/game-pass-latest-membership-figures-decline\">Game Pass numbers were well below desired targets<\/a>, with last year&#8217;s price hike &#8211; likely an attempt to make the maths make sense &#8211; backtracked on by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-game-pass-price-cut-working-asha-sharma\">new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma<\/a> at the expense of having new Call of Duty games on Game Pass on day one.<\/p>\n<p>Despite blaming a Game Pass push for the recent restructuring, Brown defended the concept behind it: &#8220;It&#8217;s a good idea. Let&#8217;s have a subscription, make it affordable, try and get games to more people. We&#8217;ll have a really diverse selection of games on there. We&#8217;ll get a load of studios involved. We&#8217;ll make some games that probably couldn&#8217;t exist otherwise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The harsh truth is that not enough people subscribed in the end, at least not enough to maintain Microsoft and Xbox&#8217;s lofty expectations and relentless acquisition sprees. Nevertheless, Brown was full of admiration for Xbox&#8217;s previous leaders, especially Sarah Bond, who was somewhat unceremoniously disappeared earlier this year when Asha Sharma took over. &#8220;I really, really liked Sarah Bond,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;Every time she spoke, she was so sharp, intelligent, impressive. It&#8217;s one of those people where you could almost just lean back a bit when they speak because you almost feel a little bit comforted by how competent they are.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>At the time of writing, Game Pass remains a core part of Xbox&#8217;s strategy, but its importance to the division going forward remains to be seen. It&#8217;s a time of confusion and upset at Microsoft, typified by the company&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-leadership-on-future-exclusives\">murky plan for console exclusives and multiplatform releases<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Mike Brown, ex-director on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/forza-horizon-5\">Forza Horizon 5<\/a> at Playground Games, has commented on Xbox&#8217;s current problems and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-game-pass-games-list-this-month-price-6400\">Game Pass<\/a>&#8216; impact on the brand&#8217;s overarching strategy in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Brown, who&#8217;s now leading development on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/maverick-games-reveals-clutch-an-open-world-racer-set-in-the-rather-gorgeous-looking-french-riviera\">open-world racer Clutch<\/a> at newly founded studio Maverick Games, was asked by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X_f9vrPFpm4\">MinnMax<\/a> about the restructuring at Xbox, which led to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">massive round of layoffs and divestiture of some of its studios<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Clutch - Official Reveal Trailer | IGN Summer of Gaming 2026\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vf67m2wkycQ?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/vf67m2wkycQ\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Clutch &#8211; Official Reveal Trailer | IGN Summer of Gaming 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Clutch &#8211; Official Reveal Trailer | IGN Summer of Gaming 2026<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vf67m2wkycQ\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Brown turned his attention to Game Pass and said that he believes they (Xbox) &#8220;invested a fortune in the concept of Game Pass as a service, which led to loads of teams being acquired, loads of games being funded, loads of people getting jobs, all with a vision of getting regular games landing in this service for players&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The reality is not enough people have subscribed to it at the prices that they needed to pay in order to make that business viable. And that&#8217;s actually just really sad because we\u2019re now going to see studios getting shut down or spun off. Loads of people are going to lose their jobs. And that is honestly just a result of a well-meaning player-focused concept of Xbox Game Pass not quite landing,&#8221; Brown explained.<\/p>\n<p>It was recently claimed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/game-pass-latest-membership-figures-decline\">Game Pass numbers were well below desired targets<\/a>, with last year&#8217;s price hike &#8211; likely an attempt to make the maths make sense &#8211; backtracked on by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-game-pass-price-cut-working-asha-sharma\">new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma<\/a> at the expense of having new Call of Duty games on Game Pass on day one.<\/p>\n<p>Despite blaming a Game Pass push for the recent restructuring, Brown defended the concept behind it: &#8220;It&#8217;s a good idea. Let&#8217;s have a subscription, make it affordable, try and get games to more people. We&#8217;ll have a really diverse selection of games on there. We&#8217;ll get a load of studios involved. We&#8217;ll make some games that probably couldn&#8217;t exist otherwise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The harsh truth is that not enough people subscribed in the end, at least not enough to maintain Microsoft and Xbox&#8217;s lofty expectations and relentless acquisition sprees. Nevertheless, Brown was full of admiration for Xbox&#8217;s previous leaders, especially Sarah Bond, who was somewhat unceremoniously disappeared earlier this year when Asha Sharma took over. &#8220;I really, really liked Sarah Bond,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;Every time she spoke, she was so sharp, intelligent, impressive. It&#8217;s one of those people where you could almost just lean back a bit when they speak because you almost feel a little bit comforted by how competent they are.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>At the time of writing, Game Pass remains a core part of Xbox&#8217;s strategy, but its importance to the division going forward remains to be seen. It&#8217;s a time of confusion and upset at Microsoft, typified by the company&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-leadership-on-future-exclusives\">murky plan for console exclusives and multiplatform releases<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Forza Horizon 5 Xbox Game Pass was a good idea in theory, former Forza Horizon 5 director says, but &#8220;the reality is not enough people have subscribed&#8221; &#8220;It&#8217;s just a real shame.&#8221; Image credit: Playground Games News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on July 21, 2026 10 comments Follow Forza Horizon 5 Mike [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2054054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2054054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2054054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2054054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2054054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}