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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate jumps to $29.99 per month, a 50% hike.
- Essential and Premium plans get upgrades without price increases.
- Gamers slam the changes, with cancellations crashing Microsoft’s site.
Microsoft has increased the price of its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription a second time in less than a year, and it’s not by a small amount. According to the official Xbox Wire blog, the service will now cost $29.99 a month — a 50% price hike. If you do the math, that’s $360 a year.
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In July 2024, Microsoft raised its prices to $19.99, but unlike last year’s increase, the tech giant is throwing in some extra perks.
New price and features
Game Pass Ultimate will provide access to more than 400 titles, and as of Oct. 1, the service is giving players the opportunity to play over 45 new games. A full list of these games is found on Microsoft’s website, but to name a few, they include Hogwarts Legacy, more than 14 Assassin’s Creed titles, Far Cry 3, and Watch Dogs.
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Over time, more will be added to the service. For example, Fortnite Crew, which is a subscription plan for the popular online game Fortnite, will become a part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It includes access to the Fortnite Battle Pass, 1,000 V-Bucks, character skins, and more.
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Also, Xbox Cloud Gaming is leaving its “Beta” stage, promising short wait times and high-quality streaming. It’s even getting support for 1440p resolution gaming.
Improving the essentials
Xbox Game Pass Core, as well as the standard plan, will not see a price hike. They will remain at $9.99 and $14.99, respectively. Instead, the two services will receive a name change plus a service upgrade. Xbox Game Pass Core will now be known as Xbox Game Pass Essential, and the standard plan is going to be dubbed Xbox Game Pass Premium. If you’re currently a subscriber to either one, you don’t have to do anything extra. Everyone will automatically be moved over to their respective plan.
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Essential subscribers now have the opportunity to play more than 50 games across PC and console, and even enjoy unlimited cloud access. Players can also earn up to $25 a year in the online store through Microsoft’s rewards programs.
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Xbox Game Pass Premium is seeing similar upgrades. More than 200 titles will be available to subscribers on Xbox and PC. The Premium plan won’t provide day-one launch titles — that remains exclusive to the Ultimate plan — but Microsoft promises “new Xbox-publish games within a year of their launch.”
Player response
Player response has been overwhelmingly negative. Users have rushed to the Xbox Game Pass website to cancel their subscriptions. In fact, the rush was so intense that it reportedly crashed Microsoft’s website.
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These past couple of years have been tough on gamers, with price hikes on services, games, and consoles occurring every couple of months or so. Back in August, Sony bumped up the PS5’s price tag to $550, and Nintendo increased the price of the original Switch to $340.
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