In a bid to maximize revenues and further improve profitability–especially a full year after the $70 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard King–Microsoft has made radical changes to its Xbox Game Pass subscription, including the outright removal of its console tier.
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VIEW GALLERY – 5 IMAGES
A bit ago, Microsoft announced a big shake up to its value-oriented Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Three key things happened: Price increases, adjustments of value, and the removal of the service’s most saturated tier.
On the price increase front, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is increasing from $16.99 a month to $19.99 a month. Prices for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate held strong, with the debut $14.99 staying static across for years, but Ultimate prices jumped to $16.99 in 2023, and now to $19.99 in 2024–representing a 33% increase across the full five-year span that Ultimate has been offered.
Another big change is the inspiration for this article: The Xbox Game Pass Console tier has been completely removed for new users.
That means anyone who buys a new Xbox Series X/S console will now be forced to subscribe either to: 1) Xbox Game Pass Core for $9.99 a month which includes online multiplayer and access to 25 games, or 1) Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the big enchilada that gives access to everything across console and PC, for the aforementioned $19.99 a month.
While it’s technically true that Game Pass Console is being phased out, it won’t stay gone entirely. Microsoft is simple re-branding/renaming the tier and offering less value for a higher cost.
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Before now, Xbox Game Pass Console was $9.99 and included day-one access to all first-party games that Microsoft makes. This, predictably, has been nixed just months before the launch of Call of Duty Black Ops 6, which is launching on Game Pass. Well, sort of. Black Ops 6 is only launching on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for console users (but day one on PC).
The replacement for Xbox Game Pass Console is called Xbox Game Pass Standard. It will cost $14.99 a month, and does not include day-one access to all new first-party Xbox games. This is the adjustment in value mentioned earlier.
These games will indeed come to Standard, but not until 6-12 months after release. That’s a big change over the previous Game Pass Console tier.
There will be a kind of limbo for new console subscribers for the time being. As per Microsoft, it will take months before the Standard tier arrives.
“In the coming months, we’ll have a new option available, Xbox Game Pass Standard, where members will have access to hundreds of games on console, plus online console multiplayer,” reads an Xbox Game Pass FAQ .pdf.
It’s unclear whether or not Standard will arrive before Call of Duty Black Ops 6’s release, but it seems likely, given the gravity of that game. However it remains clear that Microsoft wants users to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in order to play that game–and all future first-party titles.
Check below for more information on changes to Xbox Game Pass, lifted right from the Xbox support FAQ:
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