The Xbox Game Pass has always been a somewhat strange entity in the gaming market. It's amazing for gamers; for a monthly fee, they can tuck into as many games in the library as they want with no limits on gameplay time. And if they're willing to use Xbox Cloud Gaming, they don't even need to care about storage space, either.

While that's all well and good, what about the developers? People have been asking if the existence of the Xbox Game Pass causes game sales to tank, given how people can just play the title as part of their monthly fee. On the other hand, the Pass could raise income by encouraging people to purchase the title when it cycles out, or advertising in-game purchases. Well, a new study hints that it may be the former, and to be honest, it's not that big of a shock.

The Xbox Game Pass may be harming triple-A sales

As spotted by NotebookCheck, this nugget of information comes to us via Game Wise – The IGEA Educates Podcast: Episode Two: Key Industry Trends with Newzoo. In the podcast episode, the Director of Market Intelligence, Emmanuel Rosier, discussed Newzoo's findings when it comes to how Xbox and PlayStation gamers get their game on. The results were very interesting; if the study proves true, it may mean that the Xbox Game Pass is bad for triple-A titles, but good for indies.

Here's how the study saw things. While PlayStation gamers were more likely to purchase a triple-A title and stick with it, Xbox gamers would treat the Game Pass like a big buffet. They'd dart between all the games, ditching the ones that don't immediately grab them and only continuing those that they liked the feel of. After all, when you have a whole library at your fingertips at no additional cost, you can ditch a game for pretty much any annoyance you like, while purchasing the title gives you a little more patience with the game's starting issues. Newzoo also points to examples like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, where Xbox gamers purchased fewer copies than previous iterations in the series.

So, is it all doom and gloom? Not quite. While the Xbox Game Pass does turn a triple-A lineup into a glorified pick-and-mix, it may actually aid indie developers. The idea is that the Xbox Game Pass helps give visibility to games that people have never heard of, and they're more likely to try it, given how it's at no extra cost. If they like it, they can purchase it and recommend it to friends.

As such, while the Game Pass has issues, it may not be all bad. However, Microsoft may want to solve its issues if it wants to win the console wars.