Microsoft increases Xbox Game Pass prices by up to 25%

Microsoft has announced significant price increases for Game Pass, its Netflix-like subscription service for games.

The gaming giant, which bought studio Activision Blizzard for a record $69bn (then £56bn) in 2023, says the monthly fee for PC Game Pass will rise by £2 to £9.99, while its premium service, Ultimate, will increase by £2 to £14.99 per month.

It will also replace its standard subscription tier on Xbox consoles in September, meaning Xbox players will now need to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate if they want access to new games on the day they release.

This comes after Microsoft announced in May that its most anticipated new title – Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – would be immediately available to Game Pass subscribers.

Analysts said it was an attempt to shake up the industry, which has long been dominated by physical game sales.

Game Pass, like Sony’s rival PlayStation Plus service, allows console and PC gamers to play hundreds of video games for a monthly fee.

Both can be considered a “Netflix of games,” although players can download most of the available games rather than streaming them.

There are around 34 million Game Pass subscribers worldwide – all of whom will now have to pay more.

The changes will go into effect immediately for new subscribers, but existing members paying recurring fees will see their bills change in September.

Xbox players who currently have a basic subscription on their console will be able to keep it until it expires.

Subscribers at this tier will still have access to hundreds of games, but this will exclude newly released ones, as well as a few additional games only available to Ultimate subscribers.

Microsoft said in its announcement that “some games” available on Game Pass Ultimate at launch “may be” added to the standard subscription at a later date.

The pricing changes mean that the most expensive Game Pass price is now higher than Sony’s PlayStation Plus Premium, which is £13.49 per month in the UK.

The price increase and attempts to push console users to upgrade to a more expensive tier appear to be tied to the decision to immediately release the latest Call of Duty on Game Pass.

At the time, observers wondered how Microsoft could afford such a move, with GamesIndustry.biz director Christopher Dring telling the BBC that he wondered whether the company would “introduce higher tiers to Game Pass or other monetisation techniques” to mitigate it.

Call of Duty has sold over 425 million copies across the series, generating tens of billions of dollars in the process.