Microsoft has announced a major price hike for its Xbox Game Pass, a Netflix-style video game subscription service, which could see prices rise by up to 25%.
This follows the tech giant’s acquisition of game studio Activision Blizzard for a record $69 billion in 2023.
The new pricing structure will see PC Game Pass monthly fees increase by £2 to £9.99, while the premium Game Pass Ultimate service will also increase by £2 to £14.99 per month. In a significant change, Microsoft will replace its standard subscription tier for Xbox consoles in September, requiring players to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate to access new releases on launch day.
The price increase comes after Microsoft announced in May that the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be available immediately to Game Pass subscribers. This strategy is seen as an attempt to disrupt the traditional model of the gaming industry, which has long relied on selling physical copies of games.
Similar to Sony’s PlayStation Plus service, Game Pass gives console and PC gamers access to a library of hundreds of games for a monthly fee. Unlike streaming services, Game Pass allows users to download games to play offline.
The new prices for UK subscribers are as follows:
Game Pass Ultimate: Monthly fee increases from £12.99 to £14.99
PC Game Pass: Monthly fee increases from £7.99 to £9.99
Game Pass Core: Annual fee increases from £49.99 to £55.99
While new subscribers will see these changes immediately, existing recurring paying members will see the new rates come into effect in September. Xbox gamers with a basic subscription will retain access to hundreds of games until their current subscription expires, though they’ll miss out on newly released titles and some other games reserved for Ultimate subscribers.
Microsoft has indicated that “some games” available on Game Pass Ultimate at launch may be added to the standard subscription later. However, the price hike has made Game Pass Ultimate more expensive than Sony’s PlayStation Plus Premium, which costs £13.49 a month in the UK.
Industry analysts suggest that price increases and pressure on console users to upgrade to a more expensive tier are likely related to the decision to release Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 directly on Game Pass. Observers have previously questioned how Microsoft could sustain this strategy, with GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring speculating that the company could “introduce higher tiers to Game Pass or some other monetization technique” to offset the costs.
The Call of Duty franchise, which has sold over 425 million copies and earned tens of billions of dollars, remains a core part of Microsoft’s gaming strategy.
