A former Forza Horizon 5 director has weighed in on Xbox Game Pass, arguing that the subscription service was a strong idea on paper but has not attracted enough subscribers to fully deliver on that vision. Mike Brown, who previously worked at Playground Games, reportedly linked the issue to wider challenges facing Xbox.
Brown’s comments suggest a gap between the original promise of Game Pass and the results seen so far. While he still appears to support the basic concept behind the service, his view is that the real-world numbers have not been high enough to match the scale of Xbox’s broader strategy.
That assessment adds to the ongoing conversation around how important Game Pass has become to the Xbox brand. In recent years, the service has been positioned as a major part of Microsoft’s gaming plans, so questions about subscriber growth naturally feed into wider concerns about Xbox’s direction.
Coming from a senior creative figure connected to one of Xbox’s best-known racing games, the remarks stand out as a notable criticism of execution rather than the idea itself. The underlying point is that a subscription model may still be appealing in theory, but its success ultimately depends on enough players signing up to make the strategy work.
