Since 2020, Ampere has tracked the catalogues of the biggest multi-game subscription services on a monthly basis across 30 countries with detailed metadata for over 4,000 unique titles.

Starfield’s launch triggers the largest jump in daily Game Pass sign-ups

The day one release of Starfield (Microsoft) to Xbox Game Pass Console, PC, and Ultimate was highly anticipated among gamers, with Microsoft revealing that its launch day set a record for the highest number of sign-ups to Game Pass on a single day. This highlights the importance of high-quality exclusives in growing a subscriber base.

Overall, 349 titles were added to the 25 subscription services tracked by Ampere in Q3 2023, while 236 titles were removed, including Death Stranding (Sony) from Xbox Game Pass PC and Ultimate; and Deathloop (Microsoft) from PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium/Deluxe.

PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe saw the most titles added at 79, one of which was the first-party user-generated content/game creation tool Dreams in August 2023, marking its debut on a multi-game subscription service. This came just a month before the title ceased live support, with the studio citing changing priorities as it shifts its focus to a new project. However, users will still be able to play, create, and share content in-game. As the title is heavily reliant on user-generated content, bringing it to a subscription service will ideally secure a steady flow of new users engaging and creating content, keeping the title relevant for players.

Microsoft replaces Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass Core

Of the titles added to subscription services in Q3 2023, 34 were added to Xbox Game Pass Core in September. Xbox Game Pass Core replaced Xbox Live Gold as Microsoft’s lowest subscription tier, giving players access to online multiplayer and a catalogue of titles to replace monthly free ‘Games with Gold’, at the same monthly cost. The change brings the entire Xbox subscription offering in line with the Xbox Game Pass branding, simplifies the content distribution strategy used in its lowest tier, and aligns Microsoft’s subscriptions more closely with PlayStation Plus’s subscription tiers.

Oxenfree II’s mobile launch remains exclusive to Netflix

In Q3 2023, Netflix added ten titles initially released in 2023 to its games service, including OXENFREE II: Lost Signals by first-party studio Night School, a publisher acquired in September 2023 for its story-driven intellectual property (IP) and development talent. Netflix has gone on to make OXENFREE II exclusive to its catalogue on mobile – a predictable strategy post-acquisition. Interestingly, the game is not available on Xbox consoles, despite being launched on PlayStation, Switch, and PC. The first instalment was initially a timed Xbox exclusive, so Netflix may have withheld the title from the platform to disassociate the IP from the console and its subscription service.