Neither Xbox Nor CDPR Needs ‘Cyberpunk’ To Launch On Game Pass - Forbes

For a while now, there have been rumblings that as part of Microsoft’s clear partnership with CDPR, which has resulted in Cyberpunk 2077-themed Xboxes and Cyberpunk as a prime example of Smart Delivery, a free, next-gen upgrade system Microsoft is pushing, that Xbox may actually try to land Cyberpunk as a huge, third-party title for Game Pass..

First, why do this Smart Delivery promotion at all if Cyberpunk was coming to Game Pass, which would negate that? But past that, there’s the obvious fact that there are probably no terms that could get CDPR to agree to a deal like this unless Microsoft was willing to shell out not just millions, but hundreds of millions to get Cyberpunk on Game Pass..

While Microsoft has put its own first party offerings on Game Pass as a way to encourage players to flock to the Xbox ecosystem and the subscription service, getting big third party games, and big new games especially, is a whole other level.

In fact, a deal with Game Pass could actually backfire against Microsoft, as CDPR would be more prone to promote the $60 copy on PS5, given that the game would now be on Xbox (and PC too!) with Game Pass for “free.”

And while obviously Cyberpunk would be a huge draw for Game Pass, I don’t think Microsoft actually needs it, nor would it be worth the absurd amount of money it would need to spend to secure that deal

CDPR would risk too much revenue loss by putting Cyberpunk on Game Pass, Microsoft would probably have to spend so much to secure it that it wouldn’t be worth the trouble