The $30 Xbox Game Pass problem could be fixed without dropping the price

It’s been six months since the great Game Pass price hike of late 2025. The one that saw Ultimate leap to a staggering $29.99 a month. For me, and a vocal contingent of the Xbox faithful, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I wrote back in October about how the service had finally stopped delivering the value I personally needed.

At the time, Microsoft’s justification for that 50% jump was the "enhanced value" we were getting. More day-one games, upgraded Cloud Gaming (now officially out of beta at 1440p), and "perks" like Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics. But let's be real, we all knew it was the Call of Duty Tax. Microsoft spent $69 billion to get Black Ops on the service, and they needed everyone, even the non-shooter fans, to help foot the bill.

I grumbled then, and I’m still grumbling now. What is the point of "75+ day-one games" if I only have time to play three of them? I don't play Call of Duty, and I've never touched Fortnite (despite them trying to tempt me really hard with these Sabrina Carpenter and Chapelle Roan collaborations).

However, the grapevine has been buzzing lately. The news that the new Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, is looking to shake up the tiers again has me listening. Word is she’s exploring lower-priced tiers and even a potential Netflix inclusion to stop the subscriber bleed.

Now, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. I don't expect the price of Ultimate to ever drop back to $20, but I think Sharma might be onto something that could actually win me back

Cable package but make it Xbox?

Remember the days before every media company had its own $15–$25 subscription silo? We had cable. It was expensive, sure, but it was modular. You could tailor your package. You wanted the sports bolt-on? You paid for it. You wanted the kids' channels? You added them. If you didn't want those things, your package was cheaper.

In my pie-in-the-sky scenario that's probably never going to happen, Xbox moves to a similar bespoke model. I’m not inherently against them jacking up the price to include Fortnite perks. For the people who actually play it, that’s an incredible deal. But for me? Give me the ability to swap. If you want my $30 a month, let me pick the perks that actually matter to my gaming habits.

Microsoft has a treasure trove of first-party content to draw from now. Why not let us choose your own adventure with the Ultimate tier? For example:

• The Entertainment Package ($30/month): All Day One games + a Netflix Standard subscription + priority Cloud Streaming.
• The Blizzard Package ($30/month): All Day One games + a Diablo Battle Pass + Overwatch 2 premium currency.
• The Creative Package ($30/month): All Day One games + a Minecraft Marketplace Pass + Fallout 1st membership.

These are just a few off the top of my head, and obviously, depending on the actual cost of those individual subscriptions, the prices could fluctuate, but if it's stuff you are paying for anyway, why not?

It makes the service feel unique to the individual. If I could swap out the Fortnite bloat for a Minecraft Marketplace Pass for my kids or a Diablo pass for myself, I’d stop looking at that monthly bill with such resentment.

The subscription fatigue

When I look at my list of subscriptions, which on their own seem like a good deal, together the total cost does make me wince.

Between Spotify Family ($21.99), Netflix ($18), Amazon Prime ($20 with the ad-free add-on), and the Xbox Premium tier ($14.99), the monthly tax of being alive and entertained in 2026 is getting ridiculous.

I justify most of these because my whole family uses them, but it feels like we’ve circled back to the high-cost cable days we were supposed to be escaping.

If Asha Sharma can actually pull off this return to roots strategy, which started with ditching the confusing "Everything is an Xbox" messaging and giving us a hardware-focused, modular service, Xbox might just find its soul again.

If they can alleviate the subscription fatigue by letting us consolidate our entertainment into one tailored, high-value bucket payment, they won’t just get my $30; they’ll get my loyalty back, too.

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