Microsoft Increases the Price for Game Pass on PC and Xbox

[TheLostSwede]

By the time you're reading this, it's already too late to sign up for the old price, if you were planning on getting or extending your Game Pass, since as of today, Microsoft has increased the cost for both PC and Xbox owners. On top of that, Microsoft has added a new tier for Xbox owners and made its lower tiers a lot less interesting. However, as TPU is a PC centric site, let's start with the bad news for PC owners. Depending on where you live, the price increase varies, but on average, Microsoft has increased the price by US$/€2/£2. However, some lower income countries are only seeing an increase of US$1, although we're not sure why Switzerland ended up in this group. However, the exchange rate is clearly affecting some other countries either negatively or positively where some countries end up paying a little bit more and others a little bit less.

Now for the really bad news for Xbox console owners. Xbox Game Pass for Console is no longer available to new subscribers, but those already on this tier that have automatic renewal enabled will be able to continue to have access to the same tier and perks that it's been offered with to date. In its place, Microsoft is introducing the Xbox Game Pass Standard tier and the fundamental difference between it and the Xbox Game Pass for Console package is that subscribers no longer have access to day one releases, but they gain access to online multiplayer games and the full back catalogue of games. There's no word on how long those subscribed to the Xbox Game Pass Standard tier will have to wait to gain access to new releases yet, but the new tier isn't available immediately either, so we'll most likely find out in due time.




The Xbox Game Pass Standard tier will set you back US$14.99 a month—Microsoft hasn't released international pricing as yet—an increase of US$4 over the old Xbox Game Pass for Console tier. At the same time, Microsoft is also increasing the price for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from US$16.99/€14.99/£12.99 to US$19.99/€17.99/£14.99. On top of that, the Xbox Game Pass Core is seeing an increase in the yearly subscription fee from US$59.99/€59.99/£49.99 to US$74.99/€69.99/£55.99, although the monthly fee isn't changing at this point in time, except for in Argentina, Turkey and South Africa which are all seeing a small increase. Local exchange rates affect the above prices as well and you can find a full list of prices in this PDF file provided by Microsoft.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[natr0n]

pass on game pass

 

[bonehead123]

So to summarize:

If ya wanna play, ya gotsta pay (more)

But since a lot of gamrz seem to have mo money than brains, I don't feel sorry for them at all, hahahaha

 

[64K]

Kind of a slap in the face to their own fans (XBox owners). I wonder how this policy is going to affect future XBox sales?

 

[INSTG8R]

Welp so far I'm still paying the same but I have to admit I find myself barely using it and 90% of the games I do play I own anyway. IF I do see a price hike I will probably drop it

 

[ymdhis]

And I will continue to not buy game pass.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Good ole enshitification strikes again.

Pay more, get less. I'm sure MS is working the backend to reduce server cost and overhead too.

Gamepass growth has stalled so its time to get that revenue growth by alternative means...

 

[neatfeatguy]

Game Pass, as it stands right now, after taxes is $18.41 a month. My daughter makes use of it the most, but as of lately she's only used the Xbox maybe twice in the past 2 months.

Since I'm paying for it I figured I'd try to see what the hubbub is about for using Game Pass on the PC, I mean, why not? I am paying for it to be used on the Xbox.

I find a game I want to try - download gets about 70% done and it fails. I get some stupid error message and error number. I do the whole search online and see numerous posts and suggestions. None of the dozen or so suggestions work. I cannot get the download to pickup from where it failed at so now I have to try and redownload 100+ GB again? Screw it. I won't bother with it then.

Fast forward about 10 months later and my younger brother recently asked me about Game Pass, if I have it - since he knows the kids play the Xbox. I tell him I do and he's kind of excited because there are some games on there he wants us to play coop and he's thinking that the current $16.99 a month would be a good deal. I told him I had issues trying to use it on PC a while back, but I would try again and let him know. I find a game, it's only about 18GB in size and I download it.....the download speed from the Xbox Game Pass server is abysmal. Takes me nearly an hour to download the game and once it hit 100% the install fails. I get some error message and an error number that was different from the one I got some months back. I do the search online, find lots of suggestions and nothing works. I stop caring about it and let things be for a few days.

I try installing the game a few days later - same error, I searched online for answers and kept finding the same suggestions that don't work. After a bit more digging I find a youtube video about the error and the problem that find I'm having is a Windows settings (f'ing MS) that is causing the error. You figure MS would be able to fix it or have their own software bypass the setting, but no. Why would MS ever do something smart like that. My problem is, I want to install the game on my secondary drive and not the main C: drive and I can't, the Game Pass/Xbox software on PC is a poorly written POS.

I now have to change a setting in Windows to allow Microsoft's Game Pass/Xbox software on the PC allow me to install a program on a drive that isn't my main C: drive.....
If you're curious about the fix, click on SPOILER.

Spoiler

Open the Settings for Windows
Search for "Storage"
Scroll down under More storage settings and click on "Change where new content is saved"
The very first option at the top is for where you save new apps, you must change that to the drive you want to save your game you're installing off the Game Pass/Xbox software. Once you set that you can now install a game to said drive location from the Game Pass/Xbox software.

Anyway, long story short, I don't think their Game Pass service is worth what will be almost $22 a month (after taxes). Once September rolls around, I'm dropping Game Pass.

 

[thesmokingman]

never will i....

 

[Sithaer]

I'm on my second full year for free 'gifted' but I think once that runs out I will just buy keys from a key site anyway. 'that shouldn't get much more expensive and it would still worth it for me probably but I will see when the time comes'

 

[GreiverBlade]

"However, some lower income countries are only seeing an increase of US$1, although we're not sure why Switzerland ended up in this group."

probably because even if we have higher salary we pay literally for everything 4 time more than anyone else ...
also, even tho i am Swiss, i do not have a high income in respect to the country i live in ... and many other are not in the "high income" zone

well not like a care, never used Gamepass not even a single of my free cards i got with various bundles ... i prefer my games "not rented" ...

 

[TheLostSwede]

"However, some lower income countries are only seeing an increase of US$1, although we're not sure why Switzerland ended up in this group."

probably because even if we have higher salary we pay literally for everything 4 time more than anyone else ...
also, even tho i am Swiss, i do not have a high income in respect to the country i live in ... and many other are not in the "high income" zone

well not like a care, never used Gamepass not even a single of my free cards i got with various bundles ... i prefer my games "not rented" ...

It was more a, why does Switzerland only get a $1.1 increase, when the EU countries get hit with €2? Admittedly Sweden gets away with US$1.9. It seems to be a bit random, as some poorer countries are getting big increases in the local currency.

 

[Onasi]

It was more a, why does Switzerland only get a $1.1 increase, when the EU countries get hit with €2? Admittedly Sweden gets away with US$1.9. It seems to be a bit random, as some poorer countries are getting big increases in the local currency.

I feel like it’s the same thing as with Steam pricing - they have some weird internal projection of profits and their own exchange rate that isn’t exactly the market one and they go from there. It’s a bizzare thing, yeah. Same as with other subscription services - Apple had increased the sub price for Music in some regions several years ago, yet in mine I still pay peanuts, basically. It’s like they forgot.

Anyway, on topic. I don’t really vibe with subscription services for games. My backlog is massive, my interests are rather specific and, by the time I am ready to get a game fully patched and with DLCs, it’s usually already on a deep discount and can be bought pretty cheap. But I do understand that a lot of people like the Netflix for games model, so this seems like a poor move on MS part. Then again, I believe the Game Pass still is yet to turn a profit, so this might be shareholders forcing their hand.

 

[GreiverBlade]

It was more a, why does Switzerland only get a $1.1 increase, when the EU countries get hit with €2? Admittedly Sweden gets away with US$1.9. It seems to be a bit random, as some poorer countries are getting big increases in the local currency.

well my point still stand on ... high income in Switzerland is not the majority, and given the price of daily life and commodities being 4 time higher... it basically negate the medium and lower income (and to some extent the higher income ) maybe they did not want to shaft us as hard as everyone else do ...

my other guess would be currency strength ... tho 1chf is 1.03eur atm...

 

[thesmokingman]

It was more a, why does Switzerland only get a $1.1 increase, when the EU countries get hit with €2? Admittedly Sweden gets away with US$1.9. It seems to be a bit random, as some poorer countries are getting big increases in the local currency.

To be fair that's not even remotely bad compared to...

Ozempic is 1,300% more expensive in the U.S. vs the U.K.—so the boss of Novo Nordisk is being hauled in front of Bernie Sanders to explain why

Novo's Danish CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will face the U.S. Senate in September to defend Wegovy's and Ozempic's eye-watering prices.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[umeng2002]

A subscription to rent games has increased it's price. Color me shocked.

 

[Marcus L]

Just cancelled mine thanks to this post, though had been meaning to for a month or 2 and always "forget", sick of paying for it and not using it, I can live without it on PC and my daughter only plays Fortnite on her xbox, complete waste of money and the problem is with these subscription services it's easy to remain on them even when you don't use it, that's why they all want to move to that model as it's regular income stream for what is really not worth the money you end up paying out over a year/s

 

[Totally]

Inb4 They wait until they think people forgot that Day 1 access was an included perk or feel safe enough from backlash to announce that that Day 1 access is now a premium perk and therefore an upcharge. Then after not too long Game Pass Standard is pretty much going to be XB Live Gold at Game Pass pricing.

To be fair that's not even remotely bad compared to...

Ozempic is 1,300% more expensive in the U.S. vs the U.K.—so the boss of Novo Nordisk is being hauled in front of Bernie Sanders to explain why

Novo's Danish CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will face the U.S. Senate in September to defend Wegovy's and Ozempic's eye-watering prices.

finance.yahoo.com

Supply and demand. We have a lot more overweight people that want to be slimmer without eating less or working out than in the UK. Ozempic is a luxury item so if there are people who are crying about it because they can not afford it they can GF'd. There are many lower cost options out there like a gym membership.

 

[Caring1]

Inb4 They wait until they think people forgot that Day 1 access was an included perk or feel safe enough from backlash to announce that that Day 1 access is now a premium perk and therefore an upcharge. Then after not too long Game Pass Standard is pretty much going to be XB Live Gold at Game Pass pricing.




Supply and demand. We have a lot more overweight people that want to be slimmer without eating less or working out than in the UK. Ozempic is a luxury item so if there are people who are crying about it because they can not afford it they can GF'd. There are many lower cost options out there like a gym membership.

Sounds like they are pulling a Tesla move, taking features away and charging more if you want them back.

 

[the54thvoid]

Supply and demand. We have a lot more overweight people that want to be slimmer without eating less or working out than in the UK. Ozempic is a luxury item so if there are people who are crying about it because they can not afford it they can GF'd. There are many lower cost options out there like a gym membership.

I mean, this is totally off-topic but as a former gym manager and 'fitness professional' with 27 years in the industry (and a tertiary education in sports science), it's even cheaper than what you suggest. You don't even need a gym to lose weight.

But, to play devils' advocate, the fast food/sugar/convenience industry knows how to market and it absolutely does not play fair with human psychology with regards to comfort and addiction.

Ironically, Xbox have done their marketing, and they know that gaming is addictive to enough people that they'll pay the extra pennies.

 

[thesmokingman]

Supply and demand. We have a lot more overweight people that want to be slimmer without eating less or working out than in the UK. Ozempic is a luxury item so if there are people who are crying about it because they can not afford it they can GF'd. There are many lower cost options out there like a gym membership.

Try reading before replying lmao. It's 1,349 in the US vs 92 in the UK. This is not a supply vs demand and there no way supply vs demand would get like that w/o a world event. Ozempic isn't the only drug either. Lobbying Pharma is a huge problem in the US.

The drugmaker argued that a portion of its revenues went to middlemen in the U.S. in a way they don’t in the U.K. and Europe

Drug maker doesn't even freaking mention supply vs demand, smh.

 

[close]

Kind of a slap in the face to their own fans (XBox owners). I wonder how this policy is going to affect future XBox sales?

I don't think MS cares about the HW (consoles) that much anymore. Focus is probably on streaming going forward, or just renting you games for PC.

 

[alwayssts]

It was more a, why does Switzerland only get a $1.1 increase, when the EU countries get hit with €2? Admittedly Sweden gets away with US$1.9. It seems to be a bit random, as some poorer countries are getting big increases in the local currency.

Honest question as someone that hasn't analyzed this thoroughly: Any correlation between those prices and countries Sony doesn't support? Just curious.

I don't want to make assumptions, but it's one of those moments that make you stop and say "Hmm".

Kind of like when First Descendant was down and they blamed it on MS's server infrastructure (and even after it came back up connection to Xbox players often caused all kinds of problems), it was one of those moments that made me think of all the times Destiny was having server issues and they never gave a response as to why (other than DDOS attacks). It's one of those things where it just makes you wonder if (sometimes) Bungie simply wasn't throwing MS under the bus.

It would be interesting if they were taking advantage, at least in some regard, to that current set of circumstances wrt Sony (PS+) account services...but hey, that's just a theory...

A MARKETING THEORY.

 

[Totally]

Try reading before replying lmao. It's 1,349 in the US vs 92 in the UK. This is not a supply vs demand and there no way supply vs demand would get like that w/o a world event. Ozempic isn't the only drug either. Lobbying Pharma is a huge problem in the US.


Drug maker doesn't even freaking mention supply vs demand, smh.

They can only charge as much as what people are willing to pay and over here there's enough people wanting it to let them get away with $1350. If that was too high and people stopped buying the price would come down. This isn't like insulin where the options for those in need was pony up or die.

 

[kiddagoat]

I don't get all the hate about the Game Pass. I have had it for 4 years, using it on my Series X and my PC. Given the price of new games, if I complete 3-4 games a year, it pays for itself. I get my use out of it and it has saved me in the long run. Though I mostly play the single player games and once I complete them, I don't go back through them again.

This year alone I have played through Gears of War (Windows 10 Edition), Atomic Heart, Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, Astria Ascending, Sea of Stars, and Redfall.