When Xbox Game Pass launched in 2017, it felt like a turning point for the industry at large. For a reasonable monthly fee, gamers could have access to dozens of games without having to buy them separately. Over the years, Game Pass has evolved, with Xbox eventually launching new tiers, raising prices, and significantly expanding the number of games users could access as Xbox acquired new developers like Bethesda, Activision, and others.
Eventually, Game Pass even started offering new games at launch, saving gamers who want to play all of the latest releases $60 to $70 per title. However, not everyone was convinced that Game Pass was good for the industry. Developers have spoken out about it, with the former chairman of PlayStation Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, even going so far as to say that it makes developers “wage slaves,” and that it isn’t “really inspiring for developers.”
Even some consumers have expressed concerns over the damage it might be causing to the gaming industry. And now, with Microsoft once again pushing the price of Game Pass higher, the fans are speaking out.
What’s going wrong?
The reason that Game Pass has worked for so long is because subscribers feel like it’s a good value proposition. Not only did they get access to hundreds of older games they loved, but they could also get day one access to new games from Xbox and third-party developers.
That balance is now shifting in the wrong direction. For one, Microsoft has introduced a new pricing tier setup for Xbox Game Pass. It announced the change on October 1, noting that it would be doing away with the previous Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass setup in favor of a three-tier system with the following three plans: Essential, Premium, and Ultimate.
All three plans give you access to games on PC, Xbox consoles, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, but they have other limitations. Essential is $10, but it only includes 50+ games, whereas Premium will cost $15 and get you 200+ games plus access to new Xbox published games within a year of their launch. Finally, Ultimate will now cost $30 a month for access to 400+ games as well as day-one access to new Xbox published titles.
Benefits? What benefits?
And that’s the big kicker that has upset so many people. One of the biggest reasons to get Game Pass was to play new Xbox games the day they came out. However, by locking it behind the most expensive tier, many feel that Xbox has diminished the value of the service exponentially. This is a huge change from the previous subscription prices, though there are some added benefits, like access to Fortnite Crew, Ubisoft+ Classics, and EA Play, all under one subscription.
The problem, though, is these extended benefits aren’t going to entice every subscribers. Some users might just want to play new Xbox games on day one, and have no use for the extra subscriptions to Ubisoft+ and Fortnite Crew. While those features technically add value to the subscription, they force players who just want access to Xbox games earlier to pay for access to features they don’t want.
The problem is that it makes sense for Microsoft to expand and raise the prices of its hardware and services. Running the Xbox Game Pass service costs Microsoft billions, according to a Bloomberg report from 2024, and the fact that the company has raised its console prices not once, but twice in six months is a pretty clear sign that the situation isn’t entirely rosy in Microsoftland.
Game Pass really isn’t for everybody
Of course, consumers have the ability with their wallets, and the Xbox Game Pass community is not happy right now. It seems when Xbox boss, Phil Spencer, said that Game Pass is “not for everybody” earlier this year, he meant it, and many subscribers are now showing him just how “not for them” it is, as the community crashed the Xbox website yesterday due to so many people trying to unsubscribe.
This latest development also comes not long after the former senior vice president of Bethesda, Pete Hines, told IGN that “if you don’t figure out how to balance the needs of the service and the people running the service with the people who are providing the content — without which your subscription is worth jack s*** — then you have a real problem.”
It sure looks like Microsoft is facing that problem right now, and instead of finding a healthier balance, it has decided that demanding more money from the Xbox community is the best way to solve it. It’s not going to be a popular solution. Perhaps we should have paid better attention when Arkane Studios’ founder Raphael Colantonio said that “Game Pass is an unstainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade.” Now we’re finally seeing that damage out in the open, and there isn’t much Microsoft can do to hide it anymore.
