Microsoft has increased the prices of Xbox Game Pass prices. It's an absolute mess right now.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is now available across all plans, it was in beta until today.
Game Pass Core is now Game Pass Essential, it costs $9.99 per month. It comes with the following perks.
- 50+ games on Xbox console, PC, and supported devices
- Stream games, including select games you already own
- Online console multiplayer
- Play and earn up to $25 a year in the Store with Rewards.
- In-game benefits for games including Riot Games
Note: Existing Game Pass Core subscribers will be moved to Game Pass Essential automatically.
Game Pass Standard is now Game Pass Premium and costs $14.99. Here are the subscription's details.
- 200+ games on Xbox console, PC, and supported devices
- New Xbox published games join the library within 12 months of launch
- Stream games with shorter wait times, including select games you own
- Play and earn up to $50 a year in the Store with Rewards
- In-game benefits for games including Riot Games
- Online console multiplayer
Game Pass Ultimate now costs $29.99, up from $19.99, that's a 50% price increase. This is a second price hike in a year, it went up from $16.99 to $19.99 last year. Now it's gone up by $10. Technically, that's a 100% increase in the price. Wow! This is the only plan on Xbox consoles that gives you access to Day one releases. Keep this in mind, I'll explain why in a bit.
Here is what you get with Game Pass Ultimate.
- 500+ games on Xbox console, PC, and supported devices
- New games on day one, including new Xbox published games and third-party games
- Includes EA Play & Ubisoft+ Classics. Fortnite Crew coming November.
- Stream games at our best quality with the shortest wait times, including select games you own
- Play and earn up to $100 a year in the Store with Rewards
- In-game benefits for games including Riot Games
- Online console multiplayer
The new plan prices are currently live in the U.S.
The official announcement from Microsoft is PR drivel, it is a lot of words praising the bonuses, upcoming games, with details about the price increases sprinkled in between. I mean, who the heck cares about the benefits of $11.99/month value of Fortnite in-game stuff, EA Play & Ubisoft+ Classics, when you have to pay $30.00 for Game Pass Ultimate?
$30 a month for any subscription is insane, no matter how you put it. $360 for a year is not value for money. If you're patient and smart, you can probably buy games while they are discounted. Let's say you buy 10 games for $30, you'll still have $60 or more left than getting Game Pass Ultimate. But, you're not even going to spend $300 on games every year. That's actually why people subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate for $200 per year. In a year, this expense has gone up by $100. The real value in these plans is in playing Day One launches, but not it might not seem like a sweet deal anymore.
There is a PC-only Game Pass plan, but the odd thing is that the Game Pass page almost hides it. You have to scroll down, and click on "View PC only plan". Why is this hidden?
It costs $16.49/month, and lets you play Day 1 releases on PC. They are hiding it, possibly to lure users towards the Ultimate plan. The PC only plan used to cost $11.99 before today's price hike, that's a 37.53% price hike. It may not be a good option on an annual basis anymore, but it may be worth it if you want to play a new game without paying the full price.
The gaming community was naturally shocked by the changes, with several people posting on various subreddits that they had decided to cancel their subscription. The moderators of the Xbox Game Pass subreddit actually removed all the posts that voiced their frustration. Here is a screenshot I took last night.
When I went to check user reactions today, none of those threads exist. One of these threads had over 4000 upvotes, and nearly a thousand comments, but it got removed because people "were complaining".
Here's another with nearly 1900 votes and over 500 comments which was swept under the rug by the moderators. The mods have new rules for the sub about removing threads that were complaining, while they themselves have been posting aggressive replies, which were against Microsoft's decision. So much for free speech.
Want to cancel your Game Pass subscription? Here's a support page with instructions to do that.
I don't see a single reason to buy an Xbox after the recent price hikes, or a Game Pass subscription. Sony's PS5 console isn't exactly a wallet-friendly option either thanks to price increases, especially the new 825 GB version that's been silently introduced in Europe.
As far as buying games is concerned, it's like I said earlier, the smart thing to do is wait for a sale and get your games for cheap. Speaking of which, now is a good time to start buying games because Steam's Autumn Sale is live, and runs until October 6th.
Are you a Game Pass subscriber ? Will you continue using the service?
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