When Phil Spencer revealed that titles released at the launch at Game Pass have actually sold more than expected, wasn't kidding: market research NPD body today announced that the title of Undead Labs State of Decay 2 was the best selling USA in may, leaving behind God of War in second place and Detroit: Become Human , released the same month, in third place.

This is an exceptional result especially in light of two facts. The first is that the NPD draws up the rankings on the basis of revenue dollars generated from the games instead of units sold: for the title of Undead Labs to be first in the standings despite the budget price means having sold considerably more than those at full price. The second figure is obviously the presence in the Game passes, not counted as a sale by the NPD.

When Microsoft announced the release to the launch of the first party titles in the Game passes, many thought that this would have a negative impact on sales of the games themselves: the Microsoft is having the opposite effect, stoking the sales of individual games. A totally unexpected result and that does nothing but confirm the effectiveness of Microsoft's strategies.