It was a mixed year for gaming, but a major moment was Nintendo releasing games at a new, higher price of $80, beginning with Mario Kart World on the Nintendo Switch 2. Microsoft briefly considered matching this price with The Outer Worlds 2, but reversed course after a negative reaction from gamers. While they haven’t completely ruled it out, Microsoft’s head of gaming, Matt Booty, indicates they don’t currently plan to revisit the idea.
Look, as a gamer, what I took away from what they said is they really want us to be happy and feel like we’re getting our money’s worth. They’re promising to actually listen to what players are saying and use that feedback to make the game better. That’s awesome to hear!
Over the past year, we’ve been adapting, and our main goal now is to connect with players however they choose to play. We’re moving away from solely focusing on the initial price of a game, as people are finding new ways to enjoy them. For us, revenue is coming from a variety of sources these days.
As a fan, it’s good to hear they’re still paying attention to what we’re saying! They’re also understandably focused on keeping things running smoothly as a business, which makes sense. As for the content itself, they’re not planning any price changes at the moment, which is reassuring.
The mention of “various ways to make money” probably relates to the recent increase in Game Pass price – the Ultimate plan now costs $30 a month. Microsoft is also experimenting with a free version of Xbox Cloud Gaming that includes ads, but they haven’t finalized the details or release date. Similar to the standard Game Pass, this ad-supported version might stay in testing for a long time before becoming widely available.
As a big fan, I think it would make sense for Xbox to consider bringing back the $80 price tag for their big 2026 games, like the next Forza Horizon or the new Fable. These games take years to develop and are huge in scope, so a higher price could be justified. We’re already hearing Forza Horizon 6 might come out in the first half of 2026, but we’re still waiting to find out when Fable will finally arrive!
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2025-12-14 19:12