Bloomberg's Jason Schreier predicts Xbox Game Pass will eventually drop day-one first-party releases, and the reason cuts straight to a growing fracture inside Microsoft's gaming division.
Speaking on the Maximum Fun podcast, he said keeping flagship titles off the subscription service on launch day is the logical next step as Microsoft reverses its multi-platform strategy. "I think they keep Game Pass going, but I think [Microsoft] removes day one sales. Because that makes no sense anymore."
The prediction stems from Microsoft's recent move to bring Xbox exclusives back. If major releases like Clockwork Revolution and Gears of War: E-Day are locked to Xbox hardware, putting them on the service day one cannibalizes their commercial potential, a tension Schreier says studio leaders are acutely feeling.
"These Xbox studios are expected to sell their games, and not just be a part of Game Pass," he said. He pointed to The Coalition, developer of Gears of War: E-Day, as an example. "If I was the Coalition and I had Gears of War: E-Day coming out soon, I would be freaking out.
I would be asking: are we going to be getting shut down next after the game comes out?" The deeper revelation: many inside Xbox's own studios resent the service entirely. Schreier described studio leadership as people who "absolutely detest Game Pass" and believe it has "destroyed the value of their games" and "taken away the value from all games in general."
That internal friction is hard to ignore. Microsoft expects its first-party studios to deliver strong sales even as the subscription offers their titles at a deep effective discount.
Developers watching colleagues get laid off, over 3,000 Microsoft Gaming staff cuts were announced in July 2026, with 1,600 laid off immediately and the remainder expected over the following fiscal year, worry their own projects could be next if the subscription math doesn't add up.
Schreier stressed he was offering his own read on Microsoft's trajectory, not reporting an imminent policy change. The discontent he describes inside Xbox studios, paired with a staggering 3,000 job cuts announced this month, suggests the current model is already fraying from within.
