Summary
Despite providing a lot of value for its fans, Xbox’s flagship subscription service has been met with intense scrutiny over the years from those who have questioned its sustainability. The criticism has only gotten worse lately, thanks to a number of bad news and rumors hitting Xbox over the last couple of days. Just recently, The Verge’s Tom Warren reported that Microsoft is actively consideringanother price hike for Game Pass Ultimate. He also claimed that the company is having debates about releasing futureCall of Dutygames on the service day-one. Now, it seems like some parts of Warren’s report are being corroborated by another source, which happens to have some additional information as well.
In a recent episode of the Xbox Two Podcast, popular Xbox content creator Rand al Thor 19 claimed that he heard another price increase for Game Pass is “actually. . . happening.” He didn’t clarify, however, whether Microsoft plans to apply the price hike to all tiers of the service or only to GP Ultimate, as Tom Warren initially reported. Speaking to fellow insider Jez Corden, Rand al Thor 19 also said that he’s even heard “anew tier of Game Passis coming,” but he has “no idea what is involved, what it would be, or what it is.”
If this information is to be believed, it would fall in line with claims that the growth of the subscription service has stagnated. However,another Game Pass price increase is inevitable, regardless. Even though the cost of the service was raised by $2 about a year ago, Microsoft might raise its price again to subsidize the cannibalization ofCall of Dutysales if future games in the franchise come to the service day-one. And, judging from some recent statements made by Xbox president Sarah Bond, it looks like the company is still vowing to put all of its first-party titles on Game Pass day-and-date.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft’s flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.
