Game Pass vs owning your library. What actually pays off in 2025

Six months ago I started a spreadsheet with precise numbers: every game I played, how many hours I spent in it, what it cost (or what it would have cost if I'd bought it instead of grabbing it from Game Pass). After 6 months I had something that changed my approach to this whole business.

Quick summary before we go into details: Game Pass isn't as profitable as it seems at first glance, but for most gamers it still pays off. The trick is knowing which group you're in.

Numbers from my spreadsheet for H1 2025

In 6 months I played 11 games longer than 5 hours (my "this counts" threshold). Of those:

• 6 games I played through Game Pass Ultimate (PC + Cloud)
• 3 games I bought on Steam (through our comparator)
• 2 games I bought on GOG (nostalgia, longevity)

Game Pass cost: 6 × 17 USD = 102 USD.

Those same 6 games bought (through the comparator, cheapest available on the day) would have been:

• Forza Motorsport: 30 USD
• Starfield: 38 USD
• Hi-Fi Rush: 20 USD
• Pentiment: 12 USD
• High on Life: 22 USD
• Persona 5 Tactica: 40 USD Total: 162 USD

Savings on Game Pass: 60 USD, or 37 percent. Game Pass wins, but not as hard as Microsoft suggests.

Where the numbers start lying

This spreadsheet shows only one thing: the cost of entertainment over 6 months. It doesn't show:

Residual value. Bought games stay. Pentiment today, if I want, I can launch in 2030. Everything I played from Game Pass is no longer there today. Hi-Fi Rush vanished from Game Pass after 4 months (Microsoft closed Tango Gameworks, unique situation). Persona 5 Tactica will probably drop from Game Pass by end of 2026.

Sunk cost. I pay Game Pass even when I don't play. Vacation months (July, August) statistically I play less, but 17 USD still ticks. In 3 months of low activity, that's 51 USD lost.

Selection blockage. Game Pass has great Microsoft first-party games but lacks most of the best RPGs of recent years. BG3 isn't there. Cyberpunk isn't there. Witcher 3 isn't there. Disco Elysium isn't there. So my "subscription library" is a different set than my "dream gaming library".

Three player profiles and what works for each

After analyzing several dozen friends I have three profiles that fit most people.

Profile A: casual player (2-3 games a year). Subscription doesn't pay off. They pay 200 USD a year for things they don't play. Better to buy games individually, on sale, through a comparator. Annual budget: 50 to 100 USD.

Profile B: middle player (5-10 games a year, including big AAA). This is the sweet spot for Game Pass. Annual value of equivalent games: 300 to 650 USD. Subscription: 200 USD. Savings obvious. Sometimes worth combining: Game Pass + buying 1-2 games it doesn't have.

Profile C: hardcore (15+ games a year, long campaigns, collector). Subscription is insufficient. Game Pass doesn't have all the desired titles, so you'll buy anyway. Plus you want things "forever". Mix Game Pass + lots of purchases often comes to 400 to 800 USD a year, but you get the whole experience.

And other subscriptions?

Game Pass is most popular, but the market has four other options worth considering.

PS Plus Extra/Premium is the equivalent for PlayStation. 15 USD/month for Extra, 20 USD/month for Premium (with PS3/PS2 streaming). Catalog smaller than Game Pass, but Sony packs big exclusives there every month (Spider-Man, Horizon, God of War) a year after release.

EA Play (8 USD/month) has the entire EA Sports catalog plus older AAA. Narrow category, but worth considering if you play FIFA or like BioWare.

Ubisoft+ (15 USD/month) has all Ubisoft games (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six). Narrow but deep.

GOG Galaxy isn't a subscription, but worth mentioning: GOG Sale quarterly gives 80 percent off classics. Spending 50 USD once every 3 months gets you 15-20 DRM-free games, yours forever. Different philosophy, but mathematically often wins over Game Pass on a long horizon.

My current mix

After a year of experiments I settled on a strategy that works.

Game Pass Ultimate for 6 months a year. I subscribe during fall-winter (October to March) when I play most. In May I cancel. Summer months I spend on backlog from my own library.

Single AAA purchases only when the game genuinely interests me. Cyberpunk, BG3, Persona 5 Royal, Elden Ring. Each at 20 to 40 USD through the comparator, each becomes mine.

GOG quarterly for classics. I spend 25 to 40 USD, get 5-7 games from 1995 to 2010. Collection grows, prices historically minimal.

Total annual budget: about 400 USD. That's 33 USD a month on game entertainment, roughly the cost of one dinner out. For me the value-per-dollar beats Netflix (where I pay for things I don't watch) and Spotify (where I listen to 10 songs on repeat anyway).

What's next with the subscription model

Speculation for 2026 and beyond. I see two trends.

First: Game Pass price is rising. Microsoft raised the price twice in 2024 and once in 2025. From 10 USD/month in 2020 to 17 USD/month today. The trend will continue, probably to 25 USD/month by 2027. At some point the math flips and profitability drops.

Second: the catalog shrinks. Microsoft removes old games from Game Pass more often, sometimes 2-3 months after adding them. The "library" value in subscription becomes harder to estimate, because what's there today may be gone tomorrow.

Consequence: the subscription model will likely stay with us for years, but its dominance will shrink. People will start coming back to buying because they'll feel "I'm paying 200 USD a year and losing games". Good news for price comparators.

So to close: there's no single answer. Make your own spreadsheet, count your games. Maybe you'll come out at 50 USD on a third-party store instead of 200 on Game Pass. Or maybe 400 on Game Pass instead of 1000 on individual purchases. Numbers lie less than Microsoft's marketing.

A small note on fairness to developers

A thread I don't usually touch, but it fits here. Game Pass pays developers upfront, one-time, for including their game in the library. The rate varies, but for smaller studios it's often a lifeline. For mid-sized and large studios Game Pass is sometimes a better deal than traditional sales in the first 6 months.

Consequence: if you buy a game on Steam for 30 USD, the developer gets (after Valve cut, taxes, publisher) about 12 USD. If you play the same game through Game Pass, the developer already got their upfront. Each additional play doesn't add revenue but also doesn't hurt them.

My takeaway: Game Pass is ethically fine from a creator-support perspective. If I care about a specific developer and I see their game dropped from Game Pass, I buy it on Steam. That's direct support. Game Pass is more "background entertainment", Steam is "conscious support for a title".