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Xbox Chief Executive Asha Sharma, who stepped into the role just seven weeks ago, has admitted the flagship subscription service — Xbox Game Pass — is "too expensive for players" in an internal memo.
The internal note from Ms Sharma was leaked to The Verge and offers an insight into the thinking of the newly-appointed Xbox CEO. In the memo, Ms Sharma 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."
Microsoft increased the price of its Game Pass subscription twice in just 15 months. The last price hike, which took place in October last year, saw one subscription tier jump from £14.99 up to £22.99 per month — a more than 50% increase. That's the biggest increase since the subscription launched eight years ago.
Want to avoid the price rise? Online retailers like Loaded, formerly CDKeys, offer substantial discounts on Gift Cards that unlock one-, three-, or 12-month access to Game Pass and its competitors, like Nintendo Switch Online. Shopping around and buying multiple months at the same time can be a good way to ensure you're protected against future price rises, compared to a monthly rolling contract.
Save over £110 off Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a digital gift card from Loaded
Want to avoid the £22.99 per month subscription for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate? Loaded, formerly known as CD Keys, offers digital gift cards that unlock a 12-month subscription to the top-of-the-line plan for less than the previous price tag. Just £164.99 for the year, you'll pay a little over £13 per month for this plan.
Game Pass Ultimate includes all Xbox games from Microsoft-owned studios on day one, Ubisoft+ Classics with hits like Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and cloud gaming to stream a massive library instantly — no console needed
Save £10 a month on Game Pass Ultimate
$22.99
$13
The last round of changes from Microsoft didn't just change the prices.
Game Pass' structure was reshuffled into new tiers too. Microsoft rebranded its plans to better align with the alternative subscription from PlayStation, replacing its familiar Core and Standard tiers with new options, dubbed Essential and Premium. Ultimate Plan kept its name.
Game Pass offers access to the latest titles from Microsoft-owned studios, like Call of Duty, Fallout, Gears of War, Forza, Spyro, DOOM, Sea of Thieves, Minecraft, Flight Simulator, and dozens of others
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Existing Xbox Game Pass Core subscribers are being moved to the new Essential plan at £9.99 per month, while Standard users will transition to Xbox Game Pass Premium at £14.99 per month.
Those already subscribed to top-of-the-line Game Pass Ultimate kept their plan, but costs rose to £29.99 from £14.99 whenever the next billing cycle came around.
- Xbox Game Pass Core > Essential | Was £6.99, Now £9.99
- Xbox Game Pass Standard > Premium | Was £10.99, Now £14.99
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate > Ultimate | Was £14.99, Now £29.99
According to The Verge, one of the main reasons for this steep rise was the decision from Xbox executives to include Call of Duty with the subscription. The latest entry in the bestselling franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, launched in November, one month after Microsoft increased Game Pass prices.
Until now, Call of Duty retailed at £69.99 with each new release and sells roughly 20 million copies | ACTIVISION | MICROSOFT Call of Duty isn't available with every Game Pass tier. The franchise is one of the highest-earning game franchises ever, bringing in over $35 billion in cumulative revenue. Since its inception in 2003, Call of Duty games have sold over 500 million units. The decision to include these titles with Game Pass had the potential to seriously impact sales.
Starting from just £1 for the first fortnight, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is a Netflix-like subscription that offers access to a rotating catalogue of console and PC games from Microsoft's in-house studios, which now includes Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, as well as other popular developers, like EA.
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Games can be downloaded to consoles or PCs and played locally without an internet connection. In-game progress will be synced over the cloud, so you'll also be able to resume on another device, like a smartphone, iPad, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, or handheld games console, like the Logitech G Cloud or Asus ROG Ally.
Fire TV Stick owners can pair Bluetooth-enabled controllers like the Xbox Wireless Controller to play favourites like Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II and Starfield.
Xbox has even integrated features like voice chat into its cloud offering, so the experience in your web browser and across different devices should be very close to playing on a traditional game console.
You'll need a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to be able to play across different devices.
Microsoft has previously spoken about its ambition to have 100 million subscribers to Game Pass worldwide by 2030. This punchy target has pushed the US company to acquire dozens of studios at huge expense to produce new titles for its streaming service.
With some sales data suggesting that PS5 is outselling Xbox Series X and Series S at a ratio of 2:1, it's unsurprising to see Microsoft look elsewhere for more players. Game Pass subscribers are able to play the game as part of their monthly subscription — one advantage of choosing an Xbox or PC over its competitors.
Rumours of a more affordable, ad-supported subscription tier for Game Pass have circled for some time. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is widely expected to take to the stage in June to present the Microsoft-owned brand's annual Xbox Games Showcase, which is scheduled for Sunday, June 7, 2026 this time around. The keynote will be followed by a dedicated presentation about Gears of War: E-Day, the latest entry into the franchise.