Corporate spin, it's their first doom game to be on games pass. Players tried it does not equal players who paid for it.
It produces a third of the players on steam compared to eternal. If their plan was to cut into their own profits by a desperate attempt at promoting their subscription, then it worked. They think piracy cuts into their revenue? Games pass definitely does.
I think subscriptions are a plague, they reduce games to content churned out, and fomo makes players rush through them reducing enjoyment even if it is a good game.
But I think they are doomed as a business strategy, EA and Ubisoft learned it the hard way, I guess MS didn't get the memo yet, or they still think "we will be the exception to the rule"