Your Xbox Game Pass subscription just got cheaper.
Microsoft has slashed the price of Game Pass Ultimate from £22.99 to £16.99 per month, saving you £6 every month going forward. PC Game Pass has also dropped to £10.99 monthly.
The US tech firm said in a statement: "Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we’ve gotten so far. We’ll continue to listen and learn."
The cut is a U-turn from the price increase seen last October. Microsoft overhauled its gaming subscription fees and rebranded tiers to better align with the alternative subscription from PlayStation — replacing its familiar Core and Standard tiers with new options, dubbed Essential and Premium. The existing Ultimate Plan kept its name.
The price of Game Pass Ultimate dropped from £22.99 to £16.99 per month, saving you £6 every month going forward. Premium and Essential plan prices are staying the same
|XBOX PRESS OFFICE
These price changes also mark the first big move from Asha Sharma, who took over as Xbox's Chief Executive in February.
It comes after an internal note regarding Game Pass's prices from Ms Sharma was leaked to The Verge. In the memo, she writes: "Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox. It’s also clear that the current model isn’t the final one.
"Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system, which will take time to test and learn around."
The price cuts come into effect immediately, so you'll see the difference on your next bill.
But unfortunately, there's a catch.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Future Call of Duty games won't be available on Game Pass when they launch anymore.
Instead, you'll have to wait roughly a year before new entries in the franchise appear on the service. Microsoft says they'll typically arrive during the following holiday season.
The military shooter series sells tens of millions of copies annually, and having it available from day one was a massive draw.
The first Call of Duty game was released in 2003, and new titles now release annually
|ACTIVISION PRESS OFFICE
However, existing Call of Duty titles already in the Game Pass library aren't going anywhere. If you're currently enjoying Black Ops or any other entries in the series, you can keep playing them as normal.
This price restructure looks like just the beginning under Ms Sharma's leadership. It's been said she's exploring other changes, too, including discussions about new tier options that could include a first-party games only plan — games exclusively developed by Microsoft.