Xbox Game Pass subscribers might soon see another price hike. Last year, the cost of the Ultimate tier jumped significantly, from $20 to $30 per month. While cheaper options like PC Game Pass ($16.49/month), Premium ($14.99/month), and Essential ($9.99/month) are available, the Ultimate tier is the most widely used, making last year’s increase particularly noticeable. It appears prices may continue to rise.
So, I was reading Tom Warren – he’s a really trustworthy source when it comes to Xbox news – and he’s saying Microsoft is planning to seriously grow Xbox Game Pass by 2026. It sounds like they’re thinking of adding even more services to the subscription, kind of like what they did with EA Play. Honestly, it makes sense when you consider how much game development costs are going up, plus inflation and that huge Activision Blizzard deal. But here’s the thing: don’t expect this expansion to be free. Microsoft seems to be using it as a reason to raise prices, which, yeah, isn’t great, but it was pretty predictable given everything else going on.
Xbox Game Pass Becoming Like Cable TV
Okay, so this whole thing feels really familiar to me as a gamer. It reminds me of how cable TV used to work – they’d force a bunch of channels you didn’t even want on you and make you pay extra for them. That didn’t work out well for cable, and honestly, I’m confused why Microsoft is trying something similar. It feels like they’re just desperate to raise the price of Game Pass, maybe because they aren’t getting enough new subscribers. The recent price jump to $30 already upset a lot of people, so I seriously doubt many of us are going to be willing to pay even more than that anytime soon.
Game Pass PC and Premium Merger
The report suggests Microsoft is considering combining its Xbox Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscriptions into a single, likely more expensive, option. This move seems to be driven by lower subscription numbers for the Premium tier, and Microsoft likely hopes to leverage the popularity of PC Game Pass to increase revenue from its subscribers.
Remember, this information hasn’t been officially confirmed, so it’s best to view it with some skepticism. We haven’t received a response from Microsoft, and don’t anticipate one, but we’ll update this article if that changes. In the meantime, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or over on the ComicBook Forum.
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2026-02-08 19:40