Video Games

Xbox Game Pass price hike arrives alongside new tier

Microsoft is restructuring its subscription service

Marco Wutz

Microsoft

Microsoft is restructuring Xbox Game Pass with a long-rumored price increase for the service arriving at last alongside a new subscription tier. What’s going to change for Xbox Game Pass going forward?

  • NEW: Game Pass Standard ($14.99 USD per month) – includes online play, does not include Day 1 titles or cloud gaming.
  • Game Pass Ultimate ($19.99 USD per month) – monthly subscription price increases, provided services remain the same.
  • PC Game Pass ($11.99 USD per month) – monthly subscription price increases, provided services remain the same.
  • Console Game Pass – will no longer be available for purchase, though existing users will be allowed to maintain their subscription.
  • Game Pass Core ($9.99 USD) – formerly Xbox Live Gold, Game Pass Core’s services and monthly price remain the same, but the yearly subscription price increases to $74.99 USD.

To put this into perspective: Just a year ago Game Pass Ultimate cost as much as Game Pass Standard will cost in September, but obviously came with a lot more features than the new tier.

This restructuring lands right before a major wave of Microsoft exclusives is hitting the market over the next couple of months, so the company is likely hoping that the new games will attract subscribers despite the price hike. Xbox leadership has been under increased scrutiny after the expensive acquisition of Activision Blizzard with Microsoft shareholders demanding results from the gaming division.

Microsoft is only the latest company to up its subscription prices – the likes of Netflix and Spotify have done the same over recent years. The move often coincides with service growth numbers stagnating.

Find the Xbox Game Pass July 2024 additions to see what the service can offer you right now.

Published
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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