Xbox Finally Lowers Price For Game Pass, But Is It Enough?

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As many expected, Xbox has announced a price drop for Xbox Game Pass, following recent discussions and leaks.

Microsoft is making Game Pass Ultimate more affordable. CEO Asha Sharma announced on social media today that the monthly price is being lowered from $29.99 to $22.99, recognizing it had become too costly for many players.

While the price drop is good news, there’s a downside: new Call of Duty games won’t be available on Game Pass right when they launch anymore. Instead, they’ll be added to the Game Pass Ultimate library about a year after they come out. This change only applies to future games; the Call of Duty titles currently on Game Pass will remain as they are.

So, Sharma wrapped things up by saying Microsoft is going to keep working on Game Pass, trying to make it better fit what we, as players, actually want. Honestly, that’s been on everyone’s mind for a while now, even before Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond left. When Game Pass first came out, the price was awesome – totally worth the monthly fee. But with the recent price increases, and everything else getting more expensive, a lot of us are starting to think twice and even cancel subscriptions like Game Pass and Netflix. It’s just getting tough to justify all these monthly costs.

Xbox Game Pass Still Doesn’t Feel Like “The Best Deal in Gaming” After Its Price Decrease

One of the biggest reasons people got excited about Xbox Game Pass was the price – just $15 a month gave you access to a huge library of games, plus all of Microsoft’s new games on the day they launched.

Things have changed a lot since 2019. Microsoft has bought up several big gaming companies, like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard King, and they’re now adding extra perks to their Game Pass subscription. Some of these additions, such as games from Electronic Arts and Ubisoft+, are actually great. They give me access to more games without needing to pay for separate subscriptions, which is helpful since I already have plenty of those.

Now that prices for services like Game Pass and Netflix are going up, many people are starting to cancel their subscriptions.

Honestly, I’d rather just pay for the full Game Pass Ultimate subscription – around $15 a month – and skip the Fortnite Crew perks. Those perks, like Battle Passes and 1,000 V-Bucks each month (which costs about $9 on its own), aren’t worth it to me. I’m basically wasting over $100 a year on something I’ll probably never use, and a lot of other Game Pass subscribers feel the same way.

This is definitely a positive move for Xbox. For the past ten years, they’ve struggled to get their message across, and a lot of the goodwill they built with the Xbox 360 was lost when the Xbox One was first announced in 2013. Interestingly, even with recent price increases, my Xbox Game Pass subscription actually saves me money – and that will continue this year. 2026 is already looking great, with exciting games like Vampire Crawlers, Hades 2, Forza Horizon 6, and Replaced all scheduled to be released on Game Pass this spring.

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Even with a large game library, Game Pass needs to be affordable for people to subscribe. While today’s price cut is a good first step, Microsoft – led by Asha Sharma and her team – still has significant work to do to rebuild trust in the Xbox brand.

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2026-04-21 21:09