Now that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won almost unanimously the Game of the Year award at the VGA, which was a surprised to no one, I think it is clear that Game Pass has a positive role, at the very least, in pushing titles that probably wouldn’t stand a chance otherwise.
Discoverability has always been an issue, but it is acute nowadays, now that platforms are drowned in hundreds of games a week. On Steam, the charts are always an indicator. Even if we don’t want to admit it, most people will always look, or be aware, of what games are in these charts. Therefore, a game’s popularity and sales are almost always corelated, as games that are selling will get noticed by more people that will probably buy the game at some point.
And it’s pretty clear that Game Pass isn’t really taken into account in that equation. Numbers are scarce and we can’t predict popularity and it’s not because a game is in Game Pass that it will be popular either. But Game Pass is acting as a multiplicator of positive feedback and trends. There’s no need to bash a game from the get go if you can try it at launch, as you may like it. Game Pass is the kind of offer you can’t refuse.
But we also think platforms as closed off markets. A PlayStation player is not thinking of what is selling on Xbox or Steam, which is, of course, wrong. Xbox players are aware of games that are not on their platform, like Death Stranding, Final Fantasy XVI and Silent Hill 2 Remake, which have generated, each time, some word of mouth when they were dropping. And it’s also true for PlayStation players and Nintendo fansn who are waiting silently for more games on their platforms!
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had been revealed on an Xbox Games Showcase in 2024 and manage to generate some buzz, just by its incredible trailer and gameplay that looked really fun to play. But again, people don’t buy a game only on a trailer, value and positive chatter is just as important. And It’s clear that the game being on Game Pass day one, on top of all the praise the game got at launch is what put it in the right spot.
Who would have thought that in 2025, a french turn-based JRPG would won Game of the Year at the Keighleys ?
Game Pass made that barrier of entry, to try the game and see how amazing it is, lower than it could have ever been. And we know, from interviews, that a lot of people tried the game, most of them playing for a few hours. From the achievements stats, only 60% of players made it out of the intro section of the game, which is less than an hour of gameplay, and 20% of players finished the game, which isn’t that bad for a 30 hours game.
My point is obvious, for those aware, but it is important to take notice. Game Pass is acting as a gateway to Xbox curated games that is not only, promoting and pushing games on the platform, but also propagating to other platforms and players.
If Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is as popular right now and winning 9 awards at the Game Awards, it’s in part because it was heavily promoted on Xbox shows and being a Game Pass day one, on top of all the positive chatter online, as I don’t see it making the rounds, without a big curated promotion push. And I think Xbox is the platform that does it the best. And it probably doesn’t even cost them that much, with dedicated online streams and social media posts, complementing big yearly shows.