We also don't know the number of people who started to play it on Gamepass then ended up buying it.
I've done that a few times.
Nor do you know how many played the game for an hour or two and uninstalled it. Due to the nature of Game Pass conflating player numbers with sales is intellectually dishonest.
Consider this a player with a monthly Game Pass subscription, see Starfield has released. Since the game is included in the cost of his Game Pass he downloads it and plays it for 3 or 4 hours. After this time he is of the opinion the game is not for him and uninstalls it. Do you truly believe that the person doing this carries the same weight in determining the success of a launch as the person that actually buys the game at full price?
Has Starfield succeeded with it's launch, I would for sure say yes. The goal from Microsoft, from day one, was not actual game sales but rather Game Pass interest and subscriptions. I know a LOT of people that bought Game Pass for one month to try Starfield. Some discontinued the subscriptions and others kept it, either for Starfield or other games offered. As a purely financial success based on sales, that is MUCH harder to judge. On the whole I think it did good, but the waters get muddied when Microsoft is DELIBERATELY speaking to people playing the game, not the direct sales. Remember the person that loads Starfield on a Game Pass subscription and an hour later uninstalls it is considered by that count to have played the game.
