Microsoft is making some big changes to its Xbox Game Pass subscription. The most painful one is a 50-percent price hike for Game Pass Ultimate. The Netflix-like library of games will go from $20 a month to $30. The company is trying to sweeten the deal with dozens of new blockbusters getting added to the service, including Hogwarts Legacy and recent Assassins Creed games, but other Game Pass tiers, including the PC version, are also getting price hikes as the program gets even more complicated. Earlier this year I wrote that 2025 was shaping up to be Game Pass’ biggest year yet. I didn’t realize it would also become its most expensive.
Here’s a quick summary of the biggest changes laid out over on the Xbox Wire blog. Game Pass Ultimate will now feature a bigger library of over 400 games, access to new parts of Ubisoft’s back catalog, and automatic enrollment in the Fortnite Crew membership that includes battle pass access and 1,000 V-Bucks a month. Cloud gaming will now be a part of all tiers of Game Pass, and the cheaper tiers will be getting expanded libraries as well. PC Game Pass, meanwhile, is going from $12 a month to $16.50, but without any added benefits.
Microsoft is also re-working its cheaper Game Pass tiers. Game Pass Core will become Game Pass Essential and include more games with Hades, Cities: Skylines – Remastered, Stardew Valley, and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide all getting added today. It’ll remain $10 a month and still give players access to online multiplayer like the old Xbox Live Gold membership it used to be. Game Pass Standard will become Game Pass Premium and feature an expanded library of over 200 games with Hogwarts Legacy and Diablo IV getting added today. While Premium still doesn’t have access to day-one Game Pass releases, Microsoft says Xbox-published games will join this tier within a year of release with the exception of Call of Duty. It will also remain $15 a month, the same as the previous Standard subscription.
This overhaul comes a little over a year after major price hikes and messy changes in 2024. Game Pass was just $10 a month when it launched back in 2017. Now it’s triple the price to access the best version of it. Will fans still see value in the Ultimate tier, or are these changes meant to soak Microsoft’s most loyal fans while the bulk of Game Pass subscribers migrate back down to the middle tier? The program had 34 million subscribers the last time the company released official numbers, and now generates $5 billion revenue a year.
At the same time, players based in the U.S. are getting priced out of even buying a new Xbox as tariffs fuel unprecedented post-launch price increases. The best Xbox Series X is now $800, which is even more than a PS5 Pro. The top-of-the-line Rog Xbox Ally X, out later this month, will cost even more at $1,000. “We understand price increases are never fun for anybody, but we’re trying to reinforce by adding more value to these plans as well,” Microsoft gaming platform communications rep Dustin Blackwell told The Verge today. “It’s something we don’t take lightly, and we’re listening to the feedback of players and the community to try to provide them with more of what they’re asking for.”
