It’s time for Xbox fans to adjust their budgets. Xbox Game Pass will gradually increase its prices this year. Starting July 10, new subscribers will be charged the updated price, while existing subscribers will see the increase starting September 12. In the US, the price of Game Pass Ultimate will increase from $17 to $20 per month, while Game Pass Core annual access will jump from $60 to $75. Microsoft has compiled all the price increases by region. .
Microsoft will also be adding a cheaper option called Xbox Game Pass Standard in September. This plan gives you access to Game Pass titles but doesn’t include some of the perks of the Ultimate package, such as day one releases and Xbox Cloud Gaming. The Standard option includes online multiplayer, some store discounts, and all the other features of the Core plan. It will cost $15 per month in the US.
The last change looks like the beginning of the end for the Xbox Game Pass for Console plan: the option will no longer be available to new customers, and current plan holders who opt out of auto-renewal will have to choose a different option to re-upgrade.
This is the latest in a string of sad news for Game Pass. We heard from Microsoft in February that the program had seen a significant slowdown in growth, adding just 9 million new players in the past two years. That total includes Core, which lets you play online games with minimal other perks, so the number of new subscribers is even smaller. Then in June, Xbox’s much-anticipated big new hardware announcement was a flop. While this is a great offer for players who want to keep up with the massive number of new games released each month, it doesn’t seem to be connecting with its audience the way Microsoft hoped.