Xbox Game Pass Unveils Big Changes
Microsoft has confirmed that a series of sweeping changes will be coming to their Game Pass service in September and fans aren’t too happy. Previously, if you paid for ‘Xbox Game Pass Ultimate’ at £12.99 a month, you would have access to everything offered on consoles and PC as well as online functionality for all of your games. Whilst this is still an option, there’s been a price hike to £14.99, which represents the second bump in price in the last 18 months.
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From 12th September, a new option is being brought into the already multi-tiered subscription offering. This is going to be called ‘Game Pass Standard’ and will include essentially everything from Game Pass Ultimate including online and the huge gaming back catalogue but, crucially, will not allow players to play any day one releases. For £12.99 a month, this means that everything but Microsoft’s biggest new games will be available to you. Most notably, this means that you’ll have to wait for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to come to the cheaper service or shell out for the ultimate option for a couple more pounds a month.
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It wasn’t completely unexpected that a price hike was coming for Game Pass after Microsoft announced that new Activision Blizzard games would arrive on the service back in May but the introduction of a ‘standard’ tier has caused more confusion that could have been avoided. This news also comes with the announcement that PC Game Pass would be rising to £9.99 and comes just months after a new ‘Xbox Game Pass Core’ tier was introduced that allowed players to only have access to a select few games from the library. This tier will not be increasing from its £6.99 monthly cost.
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As you may expect, the frequent changes and price increases of Game Pass have left a lot of fans confused and disappointed. In a Eurogamer comment, one user posted the following:
“There was also a price hike last year so this has effectively DOUBLED the cost of Day 1 games for many users in just over a year. As of June 2023 it was £8 / $10 for Day 1 games on Game Pass, now it's £15 / $20 as you now need the Ultimate tier.
Is this now an annual price change? Can we expect it again in 12 months?”
Another had the following to say:
“So at its most expensive tier that's $240 a year damn 😒”
While the price point of £14.99 a month remains a good deal for most gamers, the constant price hikes and changes to the service have left some to throw doubt on how long Game Pass will remain beneficial.
