What just happened? Microsoft's drastic changes to Xbox Game Pass are a clear attempt to push more Xbox customers onto its ultimate tier. Although the company is raising prices for all plans, the standard Xbox offering will receive an arguably significant downgrade. Starting later this year, console subscribers can only receive newly released games and EA Play through the Ultimate tier.
Starting Wednesday, new Xbox Game Pass subscribers can no longer select the mid-level console tier. Microsoft will replace it with a new "Standard" tier that removes launch-day titles later this year. Furthermore, the prices for all plans will increase on September 12.
Standard Game Pass will still include a rotating list of hundreds of Xbox games and member-only discounts, but day-one games and EA Play will become exclusive to the Ultimate and PC plans. Like Game Pass Core, which only provides access to 25 titles, the Standard tier will add online console multiplayer.
Outside of the price hikes, the Core, PC, and Ultimate subscriptions will remain unchanged. In the US, Core increases from $59.99 to $74.99 a year, PC jumps by only $2 from $9.99 to $11.99 a month, and Ultimate rises from $16.99 to $19.99 monthly. Whereas monthly Game Pass console subscriptions were $9.99 a month, Standard will replace it at $14.99. Microsoft also listed price changes for other regions.
Depending on user preferences, the PC clearly receives the better deal, with access to new releases and EA Play for a lower price than the standard console plan. Although the new tier's launch date remains unknown, it will miss a healthy schedule of 2024 Microsoft releases that includes Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
The decision is likely a response to slow growth in console subscriptions and the need to recoup the $69 billion Microsoft spent acquiring Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard. The company also recently brought the service's cloud version to Amazon's Fire TV sticks and is advertising to PC users aggressively.
Current console subscribers should hold onto their plans since they won't lose access to new releases as long as automatic billing remains enabled. Moreover, Game Pass Console codes are still usable.
However, Microsoft plans to tighten the maximum length of stacked subscriptions to 13 months starting September 18. Those who currently have time beyond that limit remain unaffected.