Microsoft’s decisions have once again proved divisive for gamers, as the company has jacked up the price of its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription by an eye-watering 50 per cent, leading to immense backlash and a surge in subscription cancellations.
Announced via a post on Xbox Wire, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will now cost US$29.99 a month, a substantial jump from its previous monthly price of US$19.99. This marks the third price increase for the subscription tier since it was released in 2019, and the steepest hike since July last year, when it was raised from US$16.99 to US$19.99 per month.
It is to be noted that this price change only affects the highest Ultimate tier of the subscription service, although the remaining two tiers have seen a rebrand from Core and Standard to Essential and Premium, respectively. The updated tiers and subscription costs are as follows:
- Game Pass Essential: US$9.99/month
- Game Pass Premium: US$14.99/month
- Game Pass Ultimate: US$29.99/month, up from US$19.99/month
Aside from Xbox’s subscription service, PC Game Pass will still remain available, but has also seen a price increase from US$11.99 to US$16.49 a month.
Although Microsoft has tried to justify this massive price increase by offering “more rewards” such as access to over 75 day one releases, bundling Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics, as well as adding a Rewards programme and improving cloud gaming quality, this price hike hasn’t sat well with fans, and has unsurprisingly sparked a backlash among the community.
Players have taken to social media to mock Microsoft’s tone-deaf post on the price increase, which featured the caption “two words: MORE. REWARDS.”, posting humorous replies such as “two words: Cancel Now” or “two words: Subscription Cancelled”.
These comments aren’t simple jokes either, as users are cancelling their Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in droves, so much so that the spike in cancellation requests has led to the overloading of the subscription cancellation page, with many stuck with an error message. As always, money talks, so it remains to be seen if the mass cancellation attempts by users will have any effect on future price changes, but judging by the company’s track record, the chances are slim.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
