What you need to know
- Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft’s all-you-can-eat gaming subscription service, featuring hundreds of games and day-one titles from Microsoft’s internal studios, including ABK titles like the new Call of Duty.
- Like Netflix, Spotify and other services, Microsoft is now raising prices across all existing subscription plans, including console, Ultimate and PC.
- Additionally, new users will not be able to sign up for Xbox Game Pass for Console. A new “Standard” tier will be coming soon, which not include day one games, but shall include the hundreds of old games similar to EA Access, and Xbox Live Gold for multiplayer.
Three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and price increases. Microsoft confirmed to us today that the details on the long-awaited Xbox Game Pass price increase are in — but that it also comes with some big changes to the base Xbox console tier.
Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft’s Netflix-esque all-you-can-eat gaming subscription service and one of the most notable recent innovations in gaming. For a monthly fee, players get access to hundreds of games, as well as day one titles from Microsoft studios. That includes games like Bethesda’s Starfield, 343i’s Halo, as well as upcoming games like the next Call of Duty, due out this fall.
Microsoft recently rebranded Xbox Live Gold (its paywall for premium multiplayer titles) as Xbox Game Pass Core, and has implemented a series of minor price increases over the years. Now we get another name change, as well as a major overhaul of the base Xbox Game Pass tier, along with a series of price increases.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate prepaid cards are currently $14.99 at Amazon, before the price increase to $19.99.
- Soon, Xbox Game Pass for console is being discontinued for for new users only.
- Current Xbox Game Pass for Console subscribers will be able to keep their subscriptionas well as the games from day one and the hundreds of titles in the previous catalog.
- New Xbox Game Pass users will soon be welcomed with a new Xbox Game Pass ‘Standard’. This is more like EA Access, which includes Xbox’s back catalogue and no day-one games. That will cost $14.99 per month and will also include Xbox Live Gold for multiplayer (now known as Game Pass Core, confusingly). It does not include Xbox Cloud gaming. Game Pass Standard is reportedly launching in September.
- From September 12, 2024, Microsoft only allows users to stack Xbox Game Pass for Console users for up to 13 months, using prepaid cards and such, which will continue to work. If you have more than 13 months, this will not affect you.
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate isn’t changing, but its price will increase. It will still have PC Game Pass, day one games and hundreds of back catalogue titles, as well as cloud gaming. But the price is going up. The new price is $19.99 per month.
- PC Game Pass is also getting a price increasefrom $9.99 per month to $11.99.
- PC Game Pass still offers access to games from day one.
- Xbox Game Pass Core (Xbox Live Gold multiplayer) getting annual price increase from $59.99 to $74.99, but it remains $9.99 per month.
- The Price increases are global. Here you can view the new prices for your region.
- For users with recurring billing, the new prices will take effect on September 12, 2024, so you have time to cancel if you don’t feel like it.
- UPDATE: Microsoft now has a support page dedicated to these changes here.
According to Microsoft, the vast majority of users today are already on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which is its flagship plan for the service. Game Pass Ultimate includes all games on Xbox consoles, as well as in the cloud, and also on PC, often with cross-save and cross-progression.
Microsoft joins a long list of subscription services like Netflix, Spotify and others that have raised their prices in recent years. For users who play tons of games, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate more than pays for itself, but for those who don’t, Xbox Game Pass is looking increasingly like a subscription service worth cutting from their monthly bills to save money.
Price hikes are here as Microsoft allows games as standard on day one
Xbox Game Pass is a great service for users, with hundreds of games and thousands of dollars per year in annual savings if you actually use the service often. I personally Doing use it regularly and consistently, especially for Xbox Cloud Gaming. Xbox Cloud Gaming will also soon allow you to play games you actually own outside of Xbox Game Pass, which will increase the value of Ultimate.
Still, the fact that “day one games” are no longer standard seems like a big concession for Microsoft. Since the service launched, people have questioned whether giving everyone access to games on day one was a sustainable model, and post-pandemic, that may simply not be the case at that previous price point. However, I’ve heard that the vast majority of users are now on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will continue to get Xbox titles on day one, including Call of Duty 2024, heading into this holiday season. It’s also a positive step that Microsoft is rolling existing Xbox Game Pass for Console users into the system, allowing them to retain their entitlement. I imagine this will eventually be phased out as more and more users migrate to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
To be fair, there are undoubtedly users who don’t see the point in paying for “Xbox Live Gold” multiplayer, given that many titles are now free to play and don’t require any kind of paywall subscription to play. For those, something like Xbox Game Pass for Console might be a better option than Ultimate. But I suspect that’s likely a small audience at this point.
Unlike Netflix and Spotify, which have access to a near-infinite number of devices to grow up on, Xbox Game Pass as a subscription service is likely to be limited to a subset of devices in a subset of scenarios, all the while competing with the likes of Steam on PC and PlayStation on console. Apple and Google are doing everything they can to prevent Xbox Cloud Gaming from becoming a thing, and Microsoft is struggling to get Xbox One owners to move to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S as quickly as I’m sure it’d like. It’ll be interesting to see where the service goes from here.