Microsoft has been investing heavily in Xbox and PC Game Pass for a while now, and it seems the company is finally achieving eye-catching financial success as a recent report from Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) regarding the Activision-Blizzard deal reveals the revenue for Microsoft's flagship gaming subscription service.
As spotted by Tweaktown and reported by VGC, Brazil's CADE has listed a $2.9 billion revenue for "game subscription services for consoles" in 2021, which is more than likely referring to Xbox Game Pass. According to Tweaktown, the total revenue of Microsoft from its Xbox division in 2021 was around $16.28 billion, which means Xbox Game Pass covers almost 18% of the revenue for the last year. Also, Xbox Game Pass has a 30% share in Microsoft's revenue from games and services in 2021 which was $12.581 in total.
As you may already know, Brazil's competition regulatory officially approved Microsoft's Activision-Blizzard deal, mentioning that Sony still has the ability to compete against Microsoft in gaming even if Call of Duty becomes an Xbox-exclusive title in the future.
In addition to revealing Microsoft's revenue of the gaming subscription services in 2021, CADE's report also features similar data for Nintendo Switch and Electronic Arts. According to the report, Nintendo has generated $932 million from its Nintendo Switch Online service, while Electronic Arts' EA Play has reached $356 million in revenue in 2021. Unfortunately, there is no date on Sony's PS Plus or PS Now services in CADE's report.
We shouldn't expect anything official on this data from Microsoft as the company never reveals the details about its revenue in the gaming division, but the number is indeed proof of the dominance of Game Pass in the gaming subscription services. Regarding the upcoming Xbox Game Studios acquisitions and the continued support from Game Pass, we can expect the service to become even more popular in the near future, covering more of Xbox's yearly revenue. Also, we should take the PC Game Pass and xCloud into account as well, which have not been mentioned in CADE's report of Microsoft's revenue from the gaming subscription services.