They’re trying to soften the blow by adding new features to each tier, but it’s still just to disguise a price hike. More games are coming to the $15 tier, but it still won’t be day and date releases. First party games come to the $15 tier “within a year”, but that’s even excluding Call of Duty.
Updates to Xbox Game Pass: Introducing Essential, Premium, and Ultimate Plans - Xbox Wire [prices going up]
Submitted 9 hours ago by ampersandrew@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/10/01/xbox-game-pass-ultimate-premium-essential-plans/
Comments
mr_MADAFAKA@lemmy.ml 6 hours ago
MajinBlayze@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Not just business, this is what China is doing right now too
PonyOfWar@pawb.social 8 hours ago
As with almost all subscription services, the enshittification was inevitable.
sanpo@sopuli.xyz 8 hours ago
Except this one even started shit.
Call me oldschool, but I like my games available when I want them, not held hostage behind a subscription fee.
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
That’s a valid opinion if you want ownership over everything else, fair.
But to blanket-label Game Pass as “shit” right from the start really isn’t fair to all those people for whom it was good value, and gave access to a lot of games they probably wouldn’t have been able to justify otherwise.
Personally it wasn’t for me, because I too don’t like subscriptions, but for some of my friends it was and I respect that.
Flamekebab@piefed.social 7 hours ago
Let’s not forget that games leave Game Pass so there’s an element of FoMO
B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
It started off very good actually with the £1 upgrades and converting existing subs (so 3 years of Game Pass for £70!) but it’s time has come to an end.
Tigeroovy@lemmy.ca 5 hours ago
Well I’m glad I’m already not paying them for this anymore, saves me having to cancel my subscription now.
the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
This was always the plan and it will absolutely get worse. corporations only care about “line go up” they have never and will never give a fuck about the “customer”.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
The plan was to become the Netflix of video games, which they’re about 85-90% short of, so a price increase isn’t going to help that, and they know it.
simple@piefed.social 8 hours ago
30$/month is hilarious. We all knew they were going to increase the price to justify how much microsoft is spending but at that point you might as well buy your games. I guess it would make sense if you’re playing every day one release and are already subscribed to other things that are now included such as fortnite, ubisoft+…
but 99.9% of gamers are not that obsessed. I have a hard time believing there are many people willing to spend 360$ to play games that will disappear as soon as you stop playing. and I have a hard time believing most standard game pass subscribers will stay subscribed now that recently released games aren’t included
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Even if you play every day one release, there’s hardly one of those per month. The math used to work out, for a long time, that one month of Game Pass was about 1/4 of the cost of a full priced new release, so going for a subscription made some kind of sense for a certain kind of consumer. This is a hard sell.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 6 hours ago
Yeah I agree. I never used Gamepass as I am not the target audience, but the value proposition made sense to me and I understood why some people paid for it.
This new pricing makes no sense at all, wouldn’t you rather just buy the games you want at that point? $360 a year gets you a lot of games, even accounting for a couple of AAA day one purchases every year.
mohab@piefed.social 6 hours ago
I have a hard time believing there are many people willing to spend 360$ to play games that will disappear as soon as you stop playing.
I hardly spend $100 on games a year. Subscribing to Game Pass means I’m overspending by April, and for games I don’t even own. Insane proposition.
mesamunefire@piefed.social 5 hours ago
Steam spring sale is happening now. Just picked up a ton of good games for less than 30 :)
vateso5074@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
I barely even buy 5 games a year, and often not at full price. And usually the games I want aren’t even on GamePass anyways.
$360/year is crazy. Only a good deal if you’re buying more than 6 full price games a year and plan to 100% beat them and never play again before they disappear from the catalog.
anakin78z@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
We used to really enjoy game pass as a family. I think the best part is discovering games that we wouldn’t have played otherwise. But at some point we stopped using it, so we cancelled. We’ve gotten 1 or 2 months free or cheap a couple of times now, but I ended up mainly playing one game… Although I suppose I did discover that I liked Avowed more than Expedition 33 😳. If I’d had to buy them, I would have only bought Expedition 33.
So I think we’ll keep going like this… Once a year or so use a cheap trial to get a month and try a lot of games, and use steam sales the rest of the year, and every now and then buy a full price game we really want.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Sounds like how a lot of us use streaming television these days, too. The price hikes change the dynamic, for sure. And I also liked Avowed more than Expedition 33.
Paradachshund@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
Is this for the PC only version too? I can’t tell through all the marketing speak.
simple@piefed.social 8 hours ago
Microsoft is also increasing the price of its PC Game Pass subscription today, moving from $11.99 a month to $16.49 monthly — a nearly 40 percent increase. Microsoft isn’t trying to justify this increase with any added extras for PC players, though.
“The only change happening for PC Game Pass subscribers is that they won’t be getting Ubisoft Plus Classics, but they’ll be getting about 50 additional Ubisoft titles across PC Game Pass,” Blackwell says. “It will continue to get day one titles.”
Rooster326@programming.dev 7 hours ago
I would reckon most are still saving money but we will know it is going to keep going up in price.
I would be subscribed but you can’t use it on steam deck.
Paradachshund@lemmy.today 7 hours ago
Thank you!
Gerudo@lemmy.zip 7 hours ago
FYI - as of this posting sites like cdkeys (now loaded) have some og pricing but it’s quickly rising. Buy em if you want to get through games like Outer Wilds 2 before dropping service.
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
Ohhh you really got my hopes up there. I was like “There’s an Outer Wilds 2!?” all excited
But no. There’s only an Outer Worlds 2, sadly :(
Gerudo@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
Woops… Now THAT would be a reason for me to keep Game Pass
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
do they inject ads into loading screens and cut scenes?
HarkMahlberg@kbin.earth 7 hours ago
Give it time
yufoh@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
That’s it, this is the last Xbox console I’ll ever buy
Flamekebab@piefed.social 7 hours ago
I don’t think the Burberry strategy is going to work for you guys.
SalamenceFury@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I’m so glad I use Microsoft Rewards.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Are you also aware that you can no longer use those to get Game Pass?
Gerudo@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
Are you fucking kidding? I thought I’d use up my saved points to grab a month or 2 next year. They REALLY know how to screw the fan base.
SalamenceFury@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Oh I just looked, are you serious.
Gerudo@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
I used to be a huge advocate for Game Pass. I’ve played so many games I never would have without, and have saved so much from buying games and not liking them.
30 a month is insane. It now outpaces my buying rate and I can’t justify it. The lower tiers just don’t do it for me. They finally killed an Xbox Live customer since the 360.
Quicky@piefed.social 1 hour ago
I’m exactly the same. Xbox gamer since the OG, and big fan of GamePass until recently. There’s no way I’m paying that much. Mine expires this month, and that’ll be that.
BenReilly97@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Same here. This year I switched from using the Xbox Live to Game Pass upgrade thing to have it all the time, to paying full price for Game Pass only during the months when I’m actively using it.
The more expensive they make it, the less I’ll pay.