„End of Xbox Game Pass.” Players are reportedly canceling their subscriptions in such large numbers that they have overloaded Microsoft’s website

by

The day after the news broke about the increased prices for Xbox Game Pass, online discussion exploded with reactions from gamers and people working in the gaming industry, and most of it was critical of Microsoft.

There’s been no clear agreement on how successful XGP (and its PC version) is from a business standpoint. However, most players agree it’s a fantastic value, offering access to both classic titles and brand new games as soon as they’re released. This year alone, subscribers enjoyed immediate access to games like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Oblivion Remastered, and Doom: The Dark Ages.

New Xbox Game Pass in a nutshell

Honestly, as a fan, I’m not at all shocked that players are frustrated (to put it mildly) with the announced price increases. It’s completely understandable, and I’d be pretty upset too!

Just to quickly summarize: two out of the three Game Pass options have new names – they’re now called Essential (previously Core) and Premium (formerly Standard). And, as of yesterday, the most basic and the most expensive Ultimate plans both cost significantly more. The price jump is especially noticeable with XGPU – it’s gone up from $19.99 to $29.99.

There are additional updates as well, such as improvements to the Ultimate subscription and a consolidation of PC and Xbox Game Pass across all plans. A PC-only subscription will remain available, but it will cost more.

(Un)profitable subscription

Occasionally, players have commented on why the price has gone up. While the Ultimate version is significantly more expensive, it also bundles in two subscriptions that would be much costlier if purchased individually.

The problem seems to be that the included “classic” Ubisoft games and the Fortnite Crew subscription aren’t compelling enough for current Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. Many users are stating they’re unwilling to pay the current price for the subscription because of these additions. In numerous posts, they express that the value isn’t there: “They won’t pay that much” for the service.

However, this requires sacrificing instant access to a lot of games. For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will be available on Xbox Game Pass when it’s released… but only with the Ultimate subscription plan. It’s unlikely anyone will pay $30 each month simply to play the latest CoD.

Certainly, you could highlight that even the most affordable XGP plan gives you access to more than 50 games, and the Ultimate plan includes a collection of over 400 titles.

Players point out that a lot of them don’t bother with even half of the games available in these collections. Many subscribe to Game Pass simply to test out new games when they’re released. But after 2-3 months, they end up paying nearly the same price for Game Pass Ultimate as they would for a typical major game.

It’s not even worth discussing indie games in this context. Silksong definitely drew many players to XGP Ultimate when the monthly cost was a bit lower than the game’s price. Most people don’t limit themselves to a single game for an entire month, so with the lower subscription fee, you could complete the whole HKS and still have time to explore at least one other title. However, the situation changes when they have to pay an extra 10 dollars for XGPU.

That’s why certain current subscribers feel it’s now financially smarter to just purchase the games they want instead of paying a significant amount for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

End of Game Pass?

It’s not surprising that players weren’t happy with Microsoft’s choice. There are plenty of posts online criticizing the decision made by the Redmond giant.

Naturally, you might be asking if this is simply the voice of a small, vocal group that will be contradicted when Game Pass subscription numbers continue to soar – a pattern we often see with discussions around microtransactions. It’s common for initial concerns to be overshadowed by positive performance reports, just like has happened before.

Wow, I’m seeing that the page for canceling Game Pass subscriptions is really overloaded right now, which makes me think a lot of people are actually deciding to cancel! (Thanks to Wario64 for pointing that out.) I saw journalist Tom Warren said it’s usually this way, but still… it’s interesting. Plus, I’m noticing a lot of talk online about canceling Game Pass, so it seems like a trending topic.

Interestingly, the GameStop store has announced it will keep selling Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cards at the same price. This is likely a short-term move, continuing until their existing supply is depleted. Online communities quickly shared information, presenting it in a playfully “mathematical” manner.

What’s really frustrating for many players is that the Xbox Game Pass originally cost just $1. We understood this was a limited-time offer, and truthfully, it didn’t include all the benefits of XGPU, even before they improved that subscription yesterday. It’s not surprising that the price increase from “one dollar” to “$30” over a few years (with multiple increases) has significantly impacted current users.

There’s a lot of talk about whether Game Pass will eventually disappear, and some believe PlayStation Plus could suffer a similar fate. While these are just guesses, it’s clear that Microsoft’s recent choices have frustrated many players. This isn’t the first time this year that Microsoft has faced player backlash.

Read More

2025-10-02 17:03