Microsoft has spent years treating Game Pass as the centerpiece of Xbox, but the subscription service has become something of a problem for the company. Subscriber growth has fallen far short of internal expectations, while putting expensive first-party games on the service from day one has reportedly hurt the full-price sales Microsoft still relies on.
According to Fortune, Sharma is planning a major Game Pass overhaul that would let players choose some features à la carte, including add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer, while keeping a tiered subscription structure.
Game Pass clearly needs a rethink
Microsoft reportedly wanted Game Pass to reach 77 million subscribers by the end of fiscal 2026, but the service currently sits at roughly 30 million. Fortune also reports that Game Pass has cannibalized sales of higher-priced first-party releases, especially during their launch windows, creating tension between subscription revenue and traditional game sales.
Microsoft has already experimented with pricing and restrictions, including monthly cloud-gaming limits of five, 10, or 15 hours depending on the tier. Fortune does not say whether day-one first-party releases will change under Sharma’s plan, but an à la carte structure could give Xbox more room to decide which benefits belong in each tier and what players should pay extra for.
Sony has given Xbox an opening
The Game Pass overhaul is only one part of Sharma’s attempt to pull Xbox back into contention. Microsoft is also planning new hardware, investing more heavily in major franchises, and trying to make physical ownership more useful through “Your Discs. Now Also Digital,” which lets supported Xbox discs unlock digital entitlements while the physical copy remains usable. There are also rumors that Xbox may be looking for disc alternatives for the upcoming Project Helix console.
That approach looks especially interesting next to Sony’s plan to stop producing physical game discs for new PlayStation releases starting in 2028, a decision that has already drawn plenty of backlash from collectors and players worried about ownership and preservation.
Considering how much ground Xbox has lost, Sharma still has a difficult turnaround ahead, but Sony’s current problems may have created an unusually good opening. If she can make Game Pass more flexible, keep physical ownership relevant, and give players hardware worth buying, Xbox could claw back some of the console market it has lost.
