Microsoft has invested less than between $1 Million to upwards of $100 Million on deals for its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
According to the LinkedIn profile of Xbox Game Pass content strategist Ben Favreau, he has worked at Microsoft on Xbox Game Pass deals of all sizes, ranging from less than $1 Million to over $100 Million opportunities. Such content investments have grown Game Pass from 10 Million to over 25 Million subscribers.
Favreau is responsible for all aspects of the content process, with some of the largest publishers and independent developers in the industry. A selection of the aforementioned third-party game deal he’s worked to get into Xbox Game Pass include MLB The Show ’21, MLB The Show ’22, Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, NBA 2K21, NBA 2K22, Rainbow Six Siege, Back 4 Blood, Mortal Kombat 11, Stalker 2, Hades, Among Us, Guardians of the Galaxy, High on Life, Tunic, and the EA Play partnership. It’s not clear which of these deals were upward of the $100 Million mark, but it’s likely that Grand Theft Auto V is among them.
He has also served as the Game Pass lead for Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and 2P, assisting the company’s portfolio of 23 creative teams and Xbox Game Studios publishing partners building day one content for the service. He has supported single-player projects like Forza Horizon 5, Forza Motorsport, Halo Infinite, Perfect Dark, and many more unannounced.
In other related news, Microsoft has recently removed the option to buy games as a gift from the Turkey and Argentina Xbox Store after massive seller abuse. The option to buy as a gift was offered for the sake of convenience to customers, but the system has been abused in order to acquire cheaper product keys from the Turkey and Argentina Xbox store, where games are relatively cheaper due to regional pricing.
