Microsoft has tweaked and changed Xbox Game Pass a fair few times in the eight years that've passed since its introduction in 2017, but this week brought what was arguably the service's biggest ever shakeup.
On Wednesday, the firm completely overhauled every tier of the program, replacing two of them, expanding available features, and making some sizable price adjustments. Notably, the changes have largely been seen as part of Microsoft's continued focus on multiplatform gaming, and came just ahead of the launch of the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X gaming handhelds.
Game Pass' lower-end tiers — the console-specific Core and Standard — got a significant boost for no price increase. They've been superseded by Game Pass Essential ($9.99/month) and Game Pass Premium ($14.99/month), respectively, with the former gaining a slightly larger library of 50+ games and both now working across Xbox consoles, Windows PCs, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Annually, you can earn $25 (Essential) or $50 (Premium) of Xbox rewards through gameplay, too.
But these added benefits came at a cost elsewhere; specifically, with PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. PC Game Pass was bumped from $11.99 to $16.49/month, and Ultimate got a massive jump up to $29.99/month from $19.99.
Microsoft did bring Ubisoft+ games to both to compensate, and also threw in a Fortnite Crew membership (1,000 V-Bucks and cosmetics each month) for Ultimate users. Even so, though, the Ultimate price hike in particular greatly angered Game Pass players, to the point where so many were canceling subscriptions that Microsoft's website struggled to withstand the traffic.
Ultimate is no longer the best deal in gaming
At $19.99/month, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate was often touted as "the best deal in gaming" — an assertion that was hard to argue with, given how much value it brings to the table. Access to the full Game Pass library of 400+ games across Xbox consoles, PC, and cloud, with the contents of the EA Play vault and guaranteed availability of new Xbox Game Studios titles on day one as well.
But with a whopping 50% price increase, the flagship Game Pass tier has simply become too expensive for many to justify, especially when you consider all the streaming services people like to have for TV and movies, as well as rising costs of living in general.
The price hike also comes just a year after Ultimate was bumped from $16.99 to $19.99 in 2024, as well as in the wake of not one, but two Xbox hardware cost increases. To put things into perspective, the Xbox Series S — once lauded as a budget-friendly console — now costs as much as a Digital Edition PS5.
With a whopping 50% price increase, the flagship Game Pass tier has simply become too expensive for many to justify.
Now, in the face of growing U.S. tariffs and other global economic factors, hardware price increases were arguably inevitable. But with the cost of Game Pass Ultimate skyrocketing shortly after, it feels like Xbox has lost the "bang for your buck" edge that gave it advantages over its PlayStation and Switch competition — and with barely any added value to show for it.
Sure, getting the Ubisoft+ collection through Ultimate is nice, and the inclusion of an $11.99 Fortnite Crew membership is great if you happen to be a fan of Epic Games' battle royale hit. But if you don't care for Ubisoft's open-world titles or Fortnite — like I don't — all you're getting with the new Ultimate you didn't have before is the opportunity to earn $100 of Xbox rewards credit every year. That simply isn't worth the jump from $240 to $360/year to stay subscribed to Ultimate annually.
I don't doubt a price hike was likely needed to support the expansion of Xbox Cloud Gaming and its streaming services, but even so, I believe Microsoft would have been far better off spreading the price increases out some instead of loading most of that extra cost on Ultimate members. The decision to do so is why I canceled my Ultimate subscription, moving to what I now consider to be the best tier of Game Pass.
PC Game Pass has taken the crown
While it also suffered a price bump up to $16.49, PC Game Pass is still a fantastic deal, and the one I've decided to pull the trigger on following the cancellation of my Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. With it, you get all of the best benefits of Ultimate, including the full 400+ game library and day one access to Xbox first-party titles. You also get EA Play and Ubisoft+ games, too, along with $50 of earnable Xbox credit a year.
PC Game Pass' only major downside is its lack of multiplatform availability; as the name implies, it's unavailable to both Xbox console and cloud users, meaning it's only usable on a Windows PC or gaming handheld. Thus, whether you can take advantage of it or not is determined entirely by whether or not you have a capable Windows rig.
Building a gaming PC can be expensive, and most gaming handhelds aren't exactly cheap, either. But if you have a device able to make the most of what PC Game Pass offers, it's easily the best tier of the service that there is.
Building a gaming PC can be expensive, and most gaming handhelds aren't exactly cheap, either. But if you have a device able to make the most of what PC Game Pass offers, it's easily the best tier of the service that there is. It's certainly the best one for me, being the avid PC gamer I am.
After all, you're getting all of Ultimate's best features for just over half the price — and while I'll miss being able to play Game Pass titles on my Xbox as well with Xbox Play Anywhere cross-progression, that's not something I'm willing to spend $29.99/month to keep when I could pay $16.49 instead.
My utmost hope is that the severe backlash against Ultimate's cost increase drives Microsoft to reconsider, or at the very least reintroduce a tier identical to the old Ultimate that cuts out Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ to hit the old $19.99 price point. Until that happens, though, I'm sticking to PC Game Pass. Outside of stacking existing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cards before they sell out, that's where the best value now lies.
Subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and play day one Xbox games whichever way you'd like, on Xbox consoles, PC, or even through the Cloud on a wide range of devices. Going with this tier means you never miss out on anything coming to the service.
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