Microsoft has announced some major changes for Game Pass. It’s rebranding some of the tiers, which should make it a little easier to keep tabs on what games and features are available on Game Pass across Xbox consoles, PC and cloud gaming.
However, there is a painful price increase here. The high-end plan, Game Pass Ultimate, now costs $30 per month — 50 percent more than the previous $20 per month. and there’s no annual or quarterly option available to make that sting less.
That means the price of a Game Pass Ultimate membership has nearly doubled in 15 months. Microsoft previously raised the price from $17 to $20 in July 2024. The latest change now means that, at $360 per year, Game Pass Ultimate is now more than twice as expensive as PlayStation Plus Premium, which is currently $160 on an annual plan.
Microsoft recently announced a price increase for its Xbox Series X/S consoles as well. The systems will be more expensive to buy in the US starting this Friday. Also, pre-orders for the ROG Xbox Ally handheld just went live, with Microsoft confirming that the higher-end model would cost $1,000. PC Game Pass is going up from $12 per month to $16.50 too. It’s getting really expensive to be an Xbox fan, folks.
A breakdown of the Xbox Game Pass tiers.
(Xbox)
In fairness, along with a price increase, Microsoft is expanding Game Pass Ultimate in other ways. It’s adding more than 45 games to that tier today, including a whole bunch of Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry titles, as well as other Ubisoft games. That’s due, in large part, to Microsoft adding Ubisoft+ (which costs about $16 per month) to Game Pass Ultimate today.
On November 18, Ultimate members will get Fortnite Crew as part of their subscription. That gives players access to the Fortnite battle pass, 1,000 V-Bucks added to their account each month and other perks. That usually costs $12 per month, so the Game Pass Ultimate price increase might actually work out in some Fortnite players’ favor — if they ever stop playing it long enough to check out other games and get more value for their $30 per month.
Microsoft also notes that Ultimate subscribers will be able to play more than 75 day one games (i.e. those that join the service on their release day) every year across Xbox consoles, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming. That works out to at least six per month, on average. The Ultimate library now includes more than 400 games, including titles from EA Play.
As part of these changes, Xbox Cloud Gaming is officially out of beta and Ultimate subscribers have access to what Microsoft claims is its highest-quality streaming option with the lowest wait times. They’ll be able to earn up to $100 worth of rewards per year by playing games too.
Microsoft can talk up the new Ultimate features as much as it likes, but there’s no denying that a 50 percent price increase is a heck of a jump. Of note, games news curator Wario64 pointed out that the Game Pass cancellation web page appears to be overloaded:
There are changes afoot on the other two main Game Pass tiers. Standard subscribers are moving over to Premium, and Game Pass Core members will be on an Essential plan. (Essential and Premium are the same names PlayStation uses for the base and high-end PS Plus plans, fact fans.) Those tiers aren’t getting price increases, as Premium will run you $15 per month and Essential is still $10.
Premium and Essential now include PC games. The Premium plan includes more than 200 games, all of which are playable on consoles and PC. Microsoft added more than 40 to the Premium library today, including Diablo IV and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.
The company said that Xbox-published games will hit the Premium tier within a year of their release, but not that doesn’t include Call of Duty titles. This tier includes in-game perks for the likes of League of Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X, as well as the option to stream some games you own via the cloud and the ability to earn up to $50 per year in rewards.
As with the other two tiers, the Essential plan now includes “unlimited cloud gaming” (though perhaps with longer wait times), online multiplayer access and in-game perks for certain titles. It has a library of 50-plus games and the ability to earn up to $25 in annual rewards through playing games.
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