By – Chad Dufall
What you need to know
Xbox has announced a price hike and change of tiers for the revolutionary subscription service Game Pass. The service curates a list of 100’s of 3rd party games and offers access to 1st party games day one of release “Day & Date.”
The Game Pass offering is, again, changing. The subscription service offered 4 tiers of access on multiple devices.
- Xbox Game Pass Core: Did not include day-one games, offered a curated list of 25 cycling games and access to multiplayer for $9.99/month or 59.99/year.
- PC Game Pass: Included day-one games and a vast back catalogue as well as 3rd party offerings and PC specific games for $10.99/month.
- Console Game Pass: Included day one games, back catalogue as well as 3rd party offerings, but did not include multiplayer access for $10.99/month.
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: Bundled PC Game Pass, day-one games, back catalogue, and cloud gaming for $17.99/month
What’s New
So, what’s the new tiers and changes starting on July 10, 2024
- Xbox Game Pass Core: Will maintain its $9.99/month price point but the annual billing increases from $59.99 to $74.99. Access to multiplayer and a select list of games.
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: gets a price increase and now costs $19.99/month but retains all the perks previously available, including day & date, back catalogue, and cloud gaming access.
- Xbox Game Pass for Console No longer be available for new users. Existing subscribers will retain their access including all the perks as long as the customer auto renews their subscription. If you had previously subscribed to “Console Tier” you did not have access to online, the new “Standard” replacement does.
- *Xbox Game Pass Standard (New Tier): Priced at $14.99/month, includes no day one games but includes back catalog and Game Pass Core (Gold) and all its perks. Basically, Ultimate with no day one games.
- Stacking Limit: From September 12, 2024, users will not be able to stack for 36 months (about 3 years) but can now only stack Xbox Game Pass for up to 13 months using pre-paid cards.
The Verdict
Whilst there are certainly positives with this move, and I would argue it is a smart move based on timing and the careful positioning of the tiers; Game Pass continues to be confusing for customers that do not spend their time in gaming ecosystems.
Simplification was what was needed to ensure the message to casual consumers was clear and concise, it seems that we’ll be waiting sometime for Xbox to sort out its messaging.
The price hike, whilst always disappointing, was not unexpected, with Call Of Duty launching in October and the 1st party studios working at full tilt to bring multiple titles to consumers the innate value of the product is clearly increasing.
For some this will be a bridge to far with many of the other big entertainment subscriptions raising prices also like Netflix, Paramount, Prime and even PS Plus, it’s really down to the individual where they choose to spend their time and money.
One things for sure, subscription services certainly do have a price ceiling and with the competition for Game Pass being so weak it’s anyone’s guess how high that ceiling is.