Microsoft Announces Price Increases For Xbox Series X And Xbox Game Pass

Are they not planning on launching the Game Pass family plan in more regions to counter the bad press that this will surely drum up?

Woah gamepass has been terrible recently and they are rasing thr price seriously well the service needs get a lot better then

I get my Game pass "Free" with my EE mobile phone contract so not sure if / how that would effect me.

I use my reward points to pay for game pass. Spent 20 dollars on a black friday deal and haven't put down any money in over two years. I still think it's a great deal especially for new people to gaming or the xbox ecosystem. I rather have game pass over any streaming service.

“These Game Pass price adjustments are not related to the Activision Blizzard deal”

No they’re not. It’s terribly convenient timing that Starfield and Forza Motorsport are only a few months away though.

I just can’t justify £12.99 a month for IndePass Ultimate.

My PC Game Pass remains unchanged. Common PC Game Pass W.

Hmm better get some cheap deals in CDKeys and stack em soon. Not very impressed how they are not raising PC Game Pass or Series S prices, obviously cause they sell better.

what the ***** is this? what a way to ruin momentum. make the console no one owns more expensive. Good power move MS. I hope the FTC hands your ass to you.

@Sam_TSM You are having a laugh mate! Microsoft is worth over a trillion dollars not millions!

Nobody needs to play full price for Gamepass, if you don't already have Gamepass or its expired you simply buy up to 3 years of Very cheap Xbox Live Gold (From Cdkeys etc) and then enter a 1 month Ultimate Gamepass code which will convert All the Gold to Ultimate Gamepass .

No problem with this. GamePass remains well worth it for me.

I dont like this one bit and what really frustrates me is that the price increase for GP only affects console owners, those that have shelled out more money to buy their hardware.

It was the same BS with Sony initially for charging 10 bucks more for the PS5 version of games than the PS4. You just felt completely fleeced by these companies for giving them money for their hardware in the first place.

If they'd closed the ABK deal and were adding those games on there, I would say that it would be fine but increasing the price before the court date tomorrow is increasingly risky if it doesn't work out and they would look very very silly.

well they did say they wouldnt increase the price after the activision acquisition, no one said anything about before. well played m$.

@Cashews So they are putting the price of the Series X to the same as the PS5, but you think MS should keep losing money on every Series X sold whilst Sony increased their console price months ago, if anything blame Sony at least Xbox and Nintendo didn't just use the same excuse as Sony and put their prices up at the same time.

I understand the increase for the console since production costs can shift too but the Game Pass increase is frustrating. First, Xbox just had an abysmal 2022 as far as content goes and 2023 has had a rocky start. We are only a little over a month removed from Redfall and I doubt anyone can argue Xbox deserves a bump in revenue for that.

Second, even if the increase has nothing to do with Activision Blizzard is still looks terrible that the company has decided to put $69 Billion towards a purchase but says they need to increase prices for their streaming services to remain competitive. If there are 30 million Game Pass subscribers and all of them stick around and pay the $2 more a month, it would take 96 years to pay off the Activision deal. Microsoft isn't going to get anywhere near the revenue from this increase than they would be allocating the Activision money somewhere else.

Overall, the increase is unnecessary. Xbox should still be pushing for more people to join the service rather than milking those who are already supporting it.

"adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market"
??
Xbox is last in every country. What competitive conditions are they talking about, the race to have the most expensive console?

@Utena-mobile conditions = Economy's

The timing of this is really fascinating. On the game pass side, they have been in a big lull on the content side for some time now. I have to believe they will see a decent drop in subscribers over this.

The hardware side, now that the supply has caught up with demand, the Series X isn't selling very well. They must believe that Series X buyers are not as price sensitive. To be fair, that could be true.

I have so far managed to do the “buy gold and transfer over to Gamepass” trick, but as/when they eventually close that loophole, I really hope they add the option to pay for the year up front with a discount. Pretty sure PS still allow that for their various PS Plus subscriptions.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2022/08/xbox-series-x-and-series-s-will-not-follow-playstation-5-price-increase1

Lots of the comments on the linked article are really funny now, given this news.

Hmmm call me cynical.

No games - games stayed at £60, console cheaper, GP cheaper.

Soon as they have some games, prices increase. pretty obvious tactic. Will only go up again and again after ABK. (We see this through TV streaming, gaming is bound to follow)

I'm subscribed up to December 2025 so I'm good for a while yet but didn't Microsoft recently just say they wouldn't increase Gamepass prices as they didn't want to lose momentum 🤔

This will be fine for the die hard fans but not the casuals, they will most likely not continue with their subscription once they find out. Only time will tell how this will effect gamepass numbers as Microsoft have already said growth had stopped.

@bpomber ah that article has aged well....

As for the Series X price increase, here in the UK it won't make much difference. It's not flying off the shelves and this will only slow it down further, not a good move Microsoft 😒

While definitely a move with the famed 'bad optics' I have to say I haven't seen people react so violently when cars (a standard commodity these days) have become absurdly expensive. Nobody saying they will just walk lol. So once some people overreact it will be business as usual I guess.

Good to see Microsoft doing its bit to curb inflation.

I called this a year ago. Nothing like paying more money for Game Boy Color level quality of games. 99% of games are 8 bit, side scrolling games, jumping over lava pits, etc.

But people will complain about 30fps like it's end of world.

People.. look at Forza Motorsport and Starfield! This was plannend all along. Xbox and Gamepass wil have big games coming to the platform and Gamepass service. Along with so many new subscribers. Gamepass wil still be a steal compared to buying these big budget games. This is the start of the new Xbox era, and the price raise is part of it.

This also means PS5 will finally rise in price in the US since they only kept it static because of MS pricing.

This places MS's price well above PS's right now, and they were even using PS's price as part of their defense. There's definitely a tale of two Xboxes going on right now.

And yeah @SplooshDmg if they keep raising prices on OLD hardware in this economy, which is unprecedented and insane, there's basically no chance of "Pro" models IMO. We've never seen old technology INCREASE in price over years.

The GP price is worrisome as Phil (lying phil as the ponies call him may be true enough) keeps saying they're happy with the price, then they change it. Yeah it's an inflationary price increase, but there's no way around a bad look when they say one thing and do another.

This isn't as bad as the Gold price doubling attempt, but IMO they're shooting themselves in both feet once again. MS really needs to get out of MS's way.

@Kaloudz ''I just wonder how many reward points this will cost''

Me and you must be long lost twins since that's what I immediately thought when I saw the article.

@gollumb82 Consumer spending on discretionary items is down. Waaaaay down. Retailers keep sounding those alarms. People aren't "complaining", they just stop buying things. You don't need an Xbox while waiting in the bread line.

Gotta pay for these Activision Blizzard law suits somehow 🤣

Seriously though this is sad. I’ll keep Gamepass for now but if it gets too much I’ll cancel it no problem.

The price increase was bound to happen eventually even though I expected it to be in 2024 after the Starfield release.

@NEStalgia Is Microsoft changing the price of the Series X In the US? In the article I didn't see US mentioned.

And I been saying this for over a year now - - where is the bundle discount?????

They always offered year of Xbox Live with like $50 savings if bought 12 months. I'd actually care about game pass if offered game pass ultimate for $100-$120 for a year.

Welp. Time to drop to standard Gamepass. Ultimate isn't worth the mark up since I don't use the PC side of it.

@Cashews You do raise very important point. The big reason Activision deal getting shot down was over Microsoft having monopoly in the cloud. So what do they do? Price gouge the consumer even more. Stupid move.

I use my reward points to get more Game Pass so I'm guessing the number of points needed for that will go up as well with this :/

I'm curious why the US did not get a price increase for this or PS5. Our middle class has largely disappeared? Our neck beards are particularly whiny and willing to make death threats? Or I guess maybe US market share is particularly important to console makers?

Any price increase is never welcomed but you can always cancel your subscription for a bit and let the games build up.

Less than 50p per day...

@NEStalgia
Gaming has never been a cheap hobby. Sure, it has become a mainstream type of entertainment over the last 15 years, but things haven't changed that much regarding the overall costs. I'm 40 and this gen is the first time in my life I can afford pretty much any gaming gear I want, but it didn't use to be this way so I just stayed with one platform, usually a used/cheap option. If one can't afford something it's logical that you should just consider your options and maybe buy a Series S. I see a lot of people still gaming on PS4 or XB One.

When I first bought my XSS, I stacked 3 years of Gamepass form Turkey for £70. I've enjoyed gamepass, and after having been away from gaming for a long time or had helped me get back into it. But old habits die hard, and I play mostly EA sports games and Sonic! Plus puzzle platformers. I've purchased several games that I still haven't played that aren't on gamepass. Long story short, I think gamepass is great value, if you're trying to find your new gaming niche or have lots of time to Game, but I doubt I'll be attacking up years again,at any price.

No one likes increases but it is still a great value.

@GuyinPA75 they might as well call it indie pass lol

@Kaloudz In agreement with you 100%, bud. Game Pass, even at the new price, is still the best value in gaming today.

Others have said it's been terrible recently and whilst I'd be hard pushed to criticise people who want more "big budget" games on the service, we will be seeing some soon enough, although I lost my mind and bought the Starfield Constellation Edition because I simply couldn't resist 😂 .

I've just completed Planet of Lana and loved every minute of it. Beautiful game. I'd have happily paid £20 for it, even though its asking price is £16.99, but I paid my £10.99 sub and got to play it along with any other games I want that are currently on the service. Money well spent, in my opinion.

@Kaloudz Unfortunately I don't know that I play any games online that require Gold. I pretty much use it for single player games.

I play multi-player mostly in VR and on PC because they have gyro aiming, unlike Xbox.

@Kaloudz I know, right?

Here in Mexico, I think, it will be like a $1 dollar increase...still, incredible value for the asking price if you ask me.

And yeah, like some have said already, maybe MS is taking into consideration the new games coming soon (like Starfield and the ones planned for 2024).

Not a great move in the PR sense, like much of the things MS does nowadays, but we will see how it goes.

@Sifi why the living **** are we talking about sony? MICROSOFT JUST RAISED THEIR PRICE. You can be excited about price increases. I'm not about to pretend this is helpful to me - THE CONSUMER. Why the hell would I care about MS's balance sheet?

They gained so much momentum after their showcase. This is a gut punch with god awful timing.
After Nintendo's direct this greatly tempers my hope for this console.

People are either gonna pay for it or not. Many won’t. Many will. Everyone has the right to their own cost-benefit analysis. We also have the right to express ourselves. It is what it is. Another wonderful day on the internet!

Full disclosure, I’ll pay a few more dollars and keep it. I play several of the ongoing games (Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, Grounded, etc. ) and look forward to the coming games.

@Kaloudz It is a 15% hike. You can appreciate the value or not - rooting for this type of bs makes a person a corporate stooge. It is our job to fight for lower prices not throw a party when they hike 15% - past the rate of inflation.

I remember Phil saying they're not going to raise prices in the last holiday season but he hinted at a price increase will come at some point as they can only take losses for certain periods and people now forgot that. Price increase is bad no doubt in this time but Why should Microsoft take losses when competition has been profiteering for almost a year now. And as for gamepass prices if you don't see any games worth your time simply cancel your subscription. You can always come back if something catches your eye. And those of you who are stating concern about this either you already have a Xbox or you don't care about to buy it anyway. Why this hardware price increase should concern you anyway. At this point Microsoft should brand themselves as charity to feed us cheapskates.

@Kaloudz Agreed, it's not a massive hike increase at all. Neither was PlayStation's. But that didn't stop people from being dramatic and bashing PS in the comments.

Personally, I don't find any of these price increases to be a big deal at all. PS+ and GamePass are both amazing deals. I'd even argue that paying $600-700 for a console like PS5 or XSX is a good deal, given the amount of enjoyment that it provides and the amount of time that is spent on the console over the years.

@LoquaciousB Completely agreed!

No problem with the price increase. If you use it right it’s still incredible value. Was always going to happen with Bethesda and Activision deals.

Also GPU is going to start to deliver regular exclusives that was always gonna drive price up

@Sifi So nobody has to pay full price apart from everyone who already has Game Pass monthly or their stack has expired…

I don’t think this will effect much at all. The people who love Game Pass, myself included, will have no problem with it. The people that like it but don’t love it, they will just sub and unsub based on what’s available and games coming to market, which is what most people do with subscription subs these days. My subs for streaming services is constantly rotating. HBO for a month, showtime for a month, Paramount for a month. Only Netflix and Amazon are year round for me. I think it was always gonna wind up being this way and MS knows that. A price increase of this magnitude isn’t gonna stop people from subbing for a few months a year. I see this changing very very little overall. I still see overall Game Pass subs increasing, especially with 70 dollar games now.

Game Pass is now over 150 quid a year. Genuine question, not trolling - over the last 12 months did you really get £150 worth of value? Bearing in mind you can't trade a game in or keep it forever?

@Cashews Not having an issue with it and still seeing the value in it, despite the price increase, is neither rooting for it nor being a corporate stooge.

I wish Sony's service gave me the same value for money, then maybe I wouldn't have downgraded from Premium to Essential. My PS5 is a paperweight anyway, until Spider-man 2 comes out, and only then if I can tear myself away from Starfield.

To anybody who’s mad, just remember you voted for this.

@Ooccoo_Jr No not at all. But I don’t use it properly. You have to embrace playing from the selection of games and not just play games you’d buy and you have to pretty much stop buying games and play games from this. I have no issue with that as a model but I play too many niche games that’ll never make it on GPU and also I play steam deck, switch and PlayStation. There isn’t enough hours in the day to sustain a sub model value.

That’s ok though. Doesn’t mean for others GPU isn’t good value. At £70/80 games you only need to enjoy three a year I guess.

Not available everywhere but Game Pass can be bought cheaper or for next to nothing with the XBox Live conversion trick, CDKeys and Microsoft Points. Since I started with GP in early 2019 I've only payed £10.99 twice and got a year free with my Internet.

@Kaloudz I'm not calling YOU a stooge. Just a general term really. It is a good service. But there is a limit to what it is worth. $17/month flirts dangerously with that value to me. If/when the $70B deal goes through I have no doubt a good portion of that will be passed on to us - even though MS has the 2nd most cash than any other company on the planet.

@FraserG for the benefit of audiences that might not be familiar with regional prices, can the article be updated to show the previous prices of Series X in the regions that got the price increase?

On the topic:
I got to admit I am a bit surprised, but only a bit. I stated plenty of times that I expected a price increase not to occur until they simply first killed off the platform specific tiers, forcing everyone into the GP Ultimate tier.

That said, always believed that should they increase the price, it would be in this vein: a dollar or two increase, not the $5 increase that everyone fear-mongered.

The deal is still great, Ultimate goes up by about $24 US a year, GP regular goes up by $12 US a year. Not a bank-breaking amount by any means, but I'll be way more likely to pursue seasonal sales in the future instead of keeping my account on auto-renew.

@Ooccoo_Jr

Obviously that question will change with each person in here as no 2 people get the same amount of value out of Game Pass. How much you play, what games you play, how long you play them etc. will all factor into it. That being said, here are just some of the games i have enjoyed over the last roughly 2 years with Game Pass:

Guardians of the Galaxy, Tunic, Doom Eternal, Forza Horizon 4 & 5, Halo Infinite, Red Dead Redemption 2, Dead Cells, Ori 1 & 2, Hellblade, Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2, Hotline Miami, Outer Worlds, Gears 5, Everspace, A Plague Tale, Superhot, Superhot: Mind Control Delete, Carrion, Subnautica, Sniper Elite 4, Spelunky 2, Gears Tactics, Yakuza Remastered Collection, Yakuza Like a Dragon, Streets of Rage 4, Wasteland 2 & 3, No Mans Sky, State of Decay 2, World War Z, Rise of Nations, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Full Throttle Remastered, Grim Fandango Remastered, The Show 21, The Show 22, Phychonauts 2, Resident Evil 7, Sea of Thieves, Serious Sam 4, Spiritfarer, Star Wars Squadrons, The Outer Wilds, What Remains of Edith Finch, It Takes Two, Star Wars: Fallen Order, Beacon Pines, The Forgotten City, Plagues Tale Requiem, Scorn, etc. Those aren't even all of them, but you get the idea.

So for me personally, Game Pass has been one of the single best deals I have ever had in all my years of gaming and I have been gaming since Pong.

I just bought 4 x 3 month Ultimate codes and am wondering if it's worth buying more. I may just hope they do discounted codes for 6 or 12 months.

@Tharsman That info is mentioned on The Verge link (I clicked on it to see info on every region prices and there it was).

It would be cool to have it on the main article, though!

@Kaloudz but you admit you don’t pay a penny for it.

So if they removed the ability to pay with reward points would you be so delighted?

I’m fine with the price rise by the way. It was always coming.

They schedule first decent game for release to GP in 3 years.. they also announce price hike. I don't extend my subscription. That simple.

@Kaloudz I mean Phil P gave us the heads up about this increase last year. PS Plus Premium is like £13.49 monthly and there is little of interest to me on it. Even if GPU goes up £2 it's still 50p cheaper than that and I get 1st party games day one as well? I'm not gonna quibble over the 2 quid a month. I sense a lot of faux outrage here.

I'm going to let my Game Pass lapse. I feel like I didn't get what I thought I was getting when I signed up. Paying $17 a month for that one exclusive a year that I'd likely play and can't keep. I'd rather just save that money to buy the exclusive and own it. I thought when I first got Game Pass it would be a great way to test games, there are other ways to preview games without spending all this money.

@LoquaciousB PS give you 12month options for far less. It’s something MS should follow in doing as you generally don’t get a saving.

@Sifi
If you are already subscribed to Gamepass, can you do this to stack?

@Kaloudz I'm the same. Not paid for online for months thanks to reward points until a code for redeeming game pass wouldn't work, then I couldn't buy any games or gold for a few days. Had to go online and get someone at Xbox to buy gold for me. Now I'm just going to add money to my Microsoft account and buy game pass ultimate with that instead, if I can. I'll buy Starfield though because I want to own it.

@Stocksy I'm actually 100% certain he'd pay for it himself if rewards didn't exist. I could have GPU every month in perpetuity if I used my reward points but I use them for individual game purchases instead and I pay my monthly sub from my debit card. That wouldn't change if rewards didn't exist.

@Cashews I'm thinking the same here. What are they thinking?! Why destroy this monumental momentum they FINALLY have going here?

@PsBoxSwitchOwner You can get cheap GPU subs if you know where to look. Doesn't change the fact that PS Plus Premium is absolute garbage.

Honestly, I am enjoying Indies and AA games FAR more than AAA these days. It seems more times than not, AAA games across the board wind up being a disappointment for me. Even games like God of War, which I did wind up enjoying, I was done with in a couple days and I will never pick it back up. Years of hype, years of waiting and its done just like that. I like the shorter playing times, I like the larger variety in the games themselves. So for someone like me, Game Pass has been absolutely amazing. Sure, I still play AAA and I still expect some AAA out of Game Pass, but that is not what I enjoy most about the service. I cant even tell you how many smaller indies type games i have played on Game Pass that I thoroughly enjoyed, which I never in a million years would have purchased or played otherwise.

As always to each their own. Game Pass is just another option for gamers. Some will love it, some like it, and some hate it. Personally, I love it and this price hike couldn't possibly be more irrelevant to me. It could have been a $5 hike and it still wouldn't have phased me.

@RIghteousNixon Spot on.....'nuff said!

Not a big deal at all. Game pass Ultimate has gone up by a few £s is nothing. Most of us here already have a Series X. Sad to see the console price increase. But the game pass stuff is hardly anything and still an absolute bargain. So no massive suprises here. Anyone moaning needs to wake up. Sony did this first. Also you can still stack game pass. Mine is stacked until 2025. So I'm safe.

The comments over at EG are hilarious.

This increase was always going to happen at some point, I just question the timing. GP had a weak 2022, Redfall debacle this year.. ect.
You think the smarter idea would have been to keep the Xbox Series X prices and game pass cost the same until after both Forza Motorsport and Starfield had launched, go for a big push at Christmas using these titles. Then, early next year, do the rise when people might be more forgiving on the back of these two recent major (better?) titles, with more first party coming early 2024.

Just glad I used the Xbox gold thing recently to get Gamepass until 2026. Not sure how long they will keep that loophole open with the gamepass rise now.

@UltimateOtaku91

This will be fine for the die hard fans but not the casuals,

I feel the opposite. This is more likely to have hardcore gamers (that often still buy the games after a while when the prices go down, or because they really want to own x game) are way more likely to cancel.

A casual user that does not spend time in forums wont likely mind a 1 or 2 dollar increase in their monthly statement so long the kids got games to play without having to buy them new games all the time or renting games every week (if that is still a thing.)

@iplaygamesnstuff you don't pay monthly for game pass. You can stack it for 3 years. Why are people still paying monthly here on an Xbox site.

@Kaloudz Considering the fact that Ubisoft charged 18 euros for Ubi+ (a service made of 15 AC and 10 FarCry games, all of which are basically reskins of the same game). The pricing is still bearable. But they better keep the hits coming. Otherwise it isn't a very good price for an "indie game dump" sort of subscription.

@Ep_13 Because it's £10.99 a month and I can't be arsed with the faff, to be honest.

Weird timing, but I guess they are riding the wave of positivity after the show.
To many people, GP will still offer great value, but for those of us looking for AAA releases , it can be touch and go so its getting more debateable. I'm paid up for years anyway, but its not looking as attractive as it once was.
Theres still plenty of value on xbox as long as we get what we were shown soon!

@gollumb82

While definitely a move with the famed 'bad optics' I have to say I haven't seen people react so violently when cars (a standard commodity these days) have become absurdly expensive. Nobody saying they will just walk lol. So once some people overreact it will be business as usual I guess.

For better or worse, Sony proved increasing prices on games does not hurt their revenue. Any loss in sales results in a net gain thanks to the raise (and they did show fewer software sales in their reports.)

They also didn't seem to face any mainstream backlash at all over their hardware price hike. I honestly dont expect this to change much the minds of anyone wanting an xbox, and anyone that didn't want one already is not going to be persuaded by lower prices, they are going to be persuaded by more first party games and exclusives.

I'm not a fan, but this is likely going to be just a long comment section in various news sites and nothing else. Sony already cleared the way for Xbox to get away with this.

@Tharsman Problem is you are now talking £150+ for a yearly sub, for casuals that’s quite the premium now. (Less likely to know about stacking) on top of all other increases in tv subs and so on, it gets expensive.

If they did the 12month deals like PS do around Black Friday etc it can become much more affordable for families

@Cashews were not corporate stooges. As I've stacked my game pass ultimate until 2025. The value is in insane. No one should be paying monthly for game pass. You can stack in bulk cheap.

Also these hikes for the subscriptions are very low.
Raising the console price is a shame. But it was coming and Phil said that. But most of us have a Series X now.

People can get far more deals on Series X and game pass easily across the web. CD keys for example.

@BrilliantBill Now that you mention it, those Ubi guys sure have some guts, eh?

@Titntin

Weird timing, but I guess they are riding the wave of positivity after the show.

I keep repeating myself, I'm not a fan of this move, BUT this is the perfect timing if they are going to do this. They would look very very bad if they increased the price after they are given a green light to move forward with the merger, something that could happen as early as tomorrow if the temporary injunction is denied.

Hell, increasing the price after the merger would had likely resulted in anti-competitive inquiries on most major regions, even if they only did so to match PS pricing.

@Titntin Nothing to do with riding the wave of the positive response to the show as Phil P told us last year this was going to happen. Now many people are outraged like it wasn't expected. 😂

@Ep_13 Mine lapses in March 2024 using that method. I feel like I paid for 3 years when the Series X released and all I got was Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. I'm likely leaving a game out, but if I can't remember it... I still play FH4 now and didn't get into Halo Infinite. I realize things will get better on Game Pass. Part of it is me and the games I like to play. Even with the discount, which is great, and I highly recommend doing that if people want Game Pass. I get the feeling that this loophole is going to disappear soon, probably before I'm able to re-up anyways. Thanks for the info.

Nobody likes a price increase. Think its the wrong move. Trying to gain market share is hard enough without it. Bit stupid to be honest.
I think it's wild that getting my ps5 and series x on launch day actually saved me money. Usually being an earlier adaptor costs a premium, not this time

The console price increase isn’t the issue. I’m really not concerned with it as they aren’t raising the price if the XSS

Raising GP right now is just dumb.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner

Problem is you are now talking £150+ for a yearly sub, for casuals that’s quite the premium now. (Less likely to know about stacking) on top of all other increases in tv subs and so on, it gets expensive.

There is a reason they sell it only on a monthly sub format, they don't want anyone thinking about the total yearly costs. $120 a year also sounds expensive to anyone.

Edit: I think the plan is still at a point that simply 3 full priced day one games a year make one break even. Might need to play more indies to make it worth it. And going month to month also allows to unsub as soon as you are done a game you wanted to play and only resub whenever something worth-while gets added.

@Sakai

Yeah, I have been gaming since the very very beginning and I cant ever remember hardware actually going up in price as the years went on. Strange times indeed, but understandable given inflation and all.

@Kaloudz that’s cool then. I don’t think they’ll change rewards anyway. To get a completly free sub you have to put in some hours, it’s not like loads of people can be doing it.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner As I replied previously, if you want a better deal, you can shop around and get GPU far cheaper than you are claiming. Some of us don't give a f*** as even £12.99 a month direct to Ms is insane value.

Hah nice build up goodwill by announcing tons of gamepass games with an extremely well done showcase to try to cover up these price increases. Not working on me though. I’m considering dropping gamepass anyhow so maybe this is the excuse I need.

@BrilliantBill it’s a fair point about Ubisoft! But that was a crazy price!

@Tharsman

Its not just to make it seem cheaper, its so people can sub and unsub as they see fit. Some people in here are making it seem like you have to sub year round, which obviously isn't the case. Given the time frame games stay on the service, one could literally sub every other month and still have access to 100% of the games that come to the service. Buy games you want and play them in the months in between. There are lots of ways a cost conscious gamer could go about doing it. Nobody has to sub year round and many wont.

@BANJO

I'm subscribed up to December 2025 so I'm good for a while yet but didn't Microsoft recently just say they wouldn't increase Gamepass prices as they didn't want to lose momentum

Too lazy to look it up but I bet if we hunt down the quote its full of qualifiers like "at this moment" or "right now".

@Stocksy I easily scoop £20 in gift cards every 4 weeks from rewards. It doesn't take much effort or time, just remembering to do it, which sometimes scuppers my old brain 😂.

I didn't get an email or message on my Xbox about this price increase.
A lot of people are gonna be surprised and angry when they get their next bill.

I doubt this will effect subs much. We hear the same thing everytime other subs raise their prices "that's it their doomed, moat of us won't pay that" and then nothing... the price goes up subs remain basically the same.

It's like the Netflix password sharing thing, everyone was certain it would damage them and it didn't their "stunt" had a massive posertive effect on their numbers. (Not saying this will boost numbers, just that Internet noise is just that noise)

@NEStalgia

This also means PS5 will finally rise in price in the US since they only kept it static because of MS pricing.

Maybe, maybe not. MS is a US based company, they will always prefer to use the US dollar as their baseline currency. Earning money overseas has costs, currency values fluctuates, and bringing money earned overseas comes at high tax penalties.

Not sure what Sony considers their primary bank account these days, but MS will likely continue financing with the USD as their base, and be less likely to want to increase the price in this region. Of course, that can always change, but doubt Sony will want to boost the price here when Xbox is more competitive and less encumbered by the local currency.

Then again, I was entirely wrong about the game pass price increase strategy (canceling $10 tiers and go Ultimate exclusively) so don't listen much to my ramblings.

@abe_hikura

Agreed. I fully expect Game Pass subs to continue increasing. In fact, and i have said this all along, I expect Game Pass will max out around 50 million subs by the end of the generation. I still feel that it will get at least close to that number by the time the generation wraps up.

@Tharsman Yes, probably so. I did think a raise was incoming. It's just the same as when Microsoft announce a release date for a game.. (To be taken with a grain of salt 😅)

@Tharsman yes, also count in the fact DLC isn’t included, pay for early access, Ads becoming a possibility. It’s clear that it’s headed in one direction.

I also get they don’t want to say it’s £150 for 12month, but then put that in a Black Friday deal to £80-90 and it looks insane savings for parents in the lead up to Xmas.

@abe_hikura I suspect that game pass has a much higher percentage of "casual" users than Netflix.

People who converted gold at one point and just let their subscription carry over month to month. A price hike of $2/mo might be enough to remind those users that they can live without it and cancel.

Certainly, the heavy GP users will not cancel over this.

@LoquaciousB aye. I do the Pc stuff everyday at work but I just don’t game enough these days and I game on a few platforms so there just isn’t the hours in the day and I forget. The Pc stuff alone isn’t anywhere near enough to get it free

@LoquaciousB people on here say I’m anti Xbox but they just don’t read my posts. I agree I think even up to £240 a year would be insane value tbh. Especially with the mergers and future game schedule. You just have to use it right and not be buying games on top. There is plenty on there. The main way to get the best value is to only own Xbox. That’s not a joke.

If you only own an Xbox and play it daily and love to try new games it’s crackers.

If you like niche games. It might not be the same.

I literally spent 200 hours plus on a game which will never come to gamepass where you only turn left. I’m not the proper target market

Going by the comment count I thought there was this hube backlash but its just a few people having a conversation haha.

Price increase was expected and not an issue at all. If anything it highlights xbox is getting serious

Subscription services are the future of the market. People will still buy games, but people have become very comfortable with consuming content for a monthly price as opposed to outright owning it. Just look at the movie/tv market. Streaming subs dominate the market now. Sure, people still buy movies, but those numbers continue to fall year after year as people get more and more used to sub services.

MS will make whatever adjustments are needed, wether it be raising or lowering the price, introducing tiers like Sony, maybe even delaying 1st party titles for a couple months. Who knows which way it will go. We are still in the early days of sub services for gaming. One thing is for sure, its not going anywhere and its very likely that 10 years from now, the VAST majority of gaming content will be played through sub services.

@NEStalgia Honestly, the whole thing is pretty mind boggling. Sony raised its PS5 prices and still kept flying off the shelves. It never appeared to be a boon for Xbox as people were speculating. I have to think MS basically knows that, if someone was truly going to buy an XSX at $500, they'd just buy one at $550. The $50's less on the shelf tag hasn't seemed to do much for them. But I think this seriously paints an ill picture for a Pro console. If we're talking $550 for the baseline, then what's a pro going to run? $700?

But yeah, $17 for Game Pass seems a lot less savory than $15. For what it's worth, GameFly just raised their prices the other day as well. So, MS isn't alone here, but still.... Yikes.

@SplooshDmg

But I think this seriously paints an ill picture for a Pro console.

I was thinking about this too. If they are doing this now, there is no chance they are anywhere near close enough to introduce a slim series x at lower cost, so a "Pro" console would likely be an extremely high cost premium product.

@Ooccoo_Jr a question I have been asking myself. I play the odd indie game on Gamepass, a bigger title if I fancy it. Would it be cheaper dropping Gamepass and just buying the games instead? Possibly, something to consider.

@Wheatly

I'm sorted to October 2025 at this point but Xbox aren't in a strong enough position to be pulling out price increases.

This sentiment has been expressed through the comment section so far, but I have a counter argument to this: Xbox are not in a strong enough position to have volume of sold software make up for the losses they are facing in the hardware sales. Despite higher volume, Sony was not able to find that sustainable almost a year ago.

@RIghteousNixon Blimey it would take me at least 5 years to get through that. I think that's the issue, for people like yourself it's clearly great value but for most of us we simply don't have enough time in the day. I get literally 1 or 2 hours a day to play so something like Tears of the Kingdom takes me months. I simply can't extract the value required to justify a subscription. Far cheaper to buy what I want and trade in. I think that's why Game Pass is proving a harder sell than expected.

Man that Nintendo show case was fire 🤟

MS raises a bunch of prices lol. Xbox just has terrible timing for these type things.

Just when Starfield is around the corner.

Aww these xbox fans are proven wrong again and again and again.

Nobody really wants to listen to xbox's TRUE intentions with gamepass, abk, games cost/budgets etc.

@47AlphaTango do people not use the Xbox Live Gold hack??? Game Pass costs me £35 a year! Wen ya Game Pass runs out buy 12 month Xbox Live Gold from a store, they’ll email you a code, rrp is £50 a year but shop around an ya can find it for £25-£30. Go to ya Xbox an input the code. Then buy 1 month Game Pass Ultimate thro ya Xbox, it automatically converts ya Live Gold to Game Pass Ultimate.

@Ooccoo_Jr

Absolutely, it will depend greatly on just how much time someone has to game. If people have a small amount of time to game, Game Pass is probably not your best option. I only work 5 and a half months a year so I have an excessive amount of free time in the fall and winter months so Game Pass is fantastic for me.

That said, even if you were to just play 2 AAA games a year that you would have purchased at launch, it can make sense to subscribe. I assume most Xbox gamers, or at least a LOT, have their eyes on Starfield. Thats $70 right there for that one game, at least if you want to play it anytime soon after launch. I just cant imagine saying to myself, I'll just buy Starfield for $70 and buy any other games I want to play that year as opposed to just spending the money on Game Pass instead and playing it through there and getting access to a pretty massive catalog of games at the same time. Even if I didnt have the free time I do to game, with AAA games costing $70, it becomes much harder to turn down Game Pass and settle for just outright buying games.

If the Activision deal does go through, you have Diablo IV and Starfield. Those 2 games alone would basically cover the cost of the sub for the year. Anything else I played would just be a bonus.

@Kaloudz I think we are asking the wrong question here. Instead of asking "is Game Pass good value after this increase" we should be asking "will it still be attractive enough to win over new subscribers"? There is no point increasing the price 15% if you lose 20% of your audience. You still get a lot of games for your money but there comes a point where the value is irrelevant because the cost is too high. This just seems a perverse move for a company who's entire strategy is based around getting more people on Game Pass, not less.

Perhaps this is just paving the way for the eventual ad supported tier to look even more attractive by comparison?

I'm struggling to understand the sentiments of many here. The price has increased by £1/$1. Seriously, in the grand scheme of things, who is going to miss a that amount each month?

Now, I get that some are unhappy with the content on the Game Pass, but to complain about the £1/$1 increase in it's monthly cost is incredibly short-sighted. How are Microsoft expected to put decent content on the Game Pass without having to pay the price expected by Developers? Let's not forget that games have gone up by £10/£10. So what are people expecting? Microsoft to swallow that extra cost in order to put the games on to Game Pass? You cannot have it both ways; you either settle for less content, and content of lesser quality, or you pay a little more, and get better content as a consequence. And that is before you consider home grown content. Starfield, for example, was not developed free of charge, yet it is going day one on to the Game Pass. That extra £1/$1 enables you to play the game the day it comes out. You don't have to stump up the £70/$70 minimum to play the game, yet people begrudge Microsoft for trying to recoup their development costs. It seems somewhat small minded to me. People don't seem to be looking at the big picture. All these games being developed at the moment, cost a great deal of money, and like it or not, Microsoft need a return on their investment...

Maybe no Series X increase in the U.S. as many consoles sold with the $60 bundle ‘tax’ anyway.

As for Game Pass Ultimate, I haven’t paid for in a while, instead using Microsoft Rewards.

I seriously considered cancelling after Redfall, in NZ I pay $19.95 for this every month but I just haven't been getting the value that I expect... I bought and played all of Jedi Survivor, it was amazing and I feel I got my moneys worth there, so have just cancelled GP and will buy fewer games but will be more... discerning? I always seem to enjoy and appreciate games that I purchase a lot more than those I get for "free" so will see how this goes for a while.

@Fiendish-Beaver Fake outrage is hell of a thing. This won't bother 99% of the subscribers and people will still sub for starfield.
But the Internet will shout because that what it does. Remember when Xbox was dying? Haha

@Ooccoo_Jr

Considering MS now has 23 studios and that its first party output is going to increase significantly over the years, combined with $70 AAA pricing these days, I think that question is very easily a yes. As I said up above, if the Activision deal goes through, which I expect it will, you will have Diablo IV and Starfield this year. Those 2 games alone would get many to sub to the service. MS just has to make sure to release quality games. If they can do that, I dont think people would hesitate to pay the new prices so I dont think attracting new customers will be an issue at all. Looking at a $70 price tag on a single AAA game is a hell of a motivator.

Maybe not the best time with a content lull but I guess they wanted to do it with some breathing room before Starfield. I don’t think it’s the worst increase, and I will probably just keep getting codes from other places anyway.

@K1LLEGAL

I think they wanted to do it before the Activision deal is complete.

Late to the party here.
Just saying I don't like this. The optics aren't great for MS here and it's not the Game Pass increase (in my view not quite so egregious) but the price increase on the already released Series X that's the **** thing to do.
Greed is greed. People shouldn't be paying more for something that they could have got for £50 cheaper x3 years ago.

@themightyant

Say what? People have to pay an extra $35 to play Starfield on Game Pass on day 1? Why havent I heard anything about this. If thats true, that changes a lot in regards to my view of Game Pass.

Are you talking about having early access to it, like 4-5 days, if you wind up upgrading to the premium edition? If so, what you said isnt accurate. Getting early access and still being able to play day 1 are 2 very different things.

right on the heals od "30 fps only" ms at this rate, ms wont be in the video game business for the starfield launch.

@themightyant

Oh yeah, that doesnt bother me. If people want to pay a little xtra to get a few days head start, I am fine with that. As long as I can still play it day one for no extra charge.

Really sucks for regions with no rewards.

@Tharsman Yeah, I really just can't fathom how they release a more premium console when the price of the base hardware is heading in the wrong direction. It doesn't mean they won't, but I really think hardware makers are growing weary of the taking a loss on hardware model. Which is why I suspect prices are going up for the first time ever. Pandemic times sort of showed that people are maybe a little too willing to pay the premium for some products, and now we're here. Crazy times we're living in.

I'm not sure if I use Game Pass enough to justify this increase, but while the selection of games could be better, my main problem are the things bundled with it - Gold & Ultimate Perks - which are just bad. If they increase the quality of GP by committing to bulking up the library with a mix of mainstream and Indie games, or rework GWG & the Ultimate Perks into something actually good that's one thing. But since they didn't announce any kind of changes with this, this just comes across as 'we wanted more money'.

@gollumb82 This "well gaming is expensive hobbies for dignified rich people" is a new phenomenon I've only started seeing recently. Wasn't that long ago gaming was for loser kids. Yes it was once upon a time expensive, and has consistently come down and down and down in costs, as companies have competed to undercut each other, knowing that undercutting means winning much of the market. That's not new, that's how Sony killed Sega. It's how MS killed Sony, and then it's how Sony killed MS again. As we're constantly reminded it's as mainstream a thing as movies and books at this point. If it's moving into being part of the luxury market it's moving in a direction opposite it's 30 year trajectory.

I think you're underestimating how dire That 70's Economy "stagflation" economy is, across the range of consumer discretionary spending. Don't take my word for it, just listen to the retailer's earnings meetings.

@evan23 You might be right, I thought at first it was $550 in the US but it does seem like this is, like Sony, "everywhere but the US."

That still seems strange to me, that they'd use Sony's price increase in their legal arguments with other territories then raise their own higher. Though in the US, the Fed has been hiking interest rates like it's 1975 to keep inflation down, and maybe it's working somewhat despite not appearing so outwardly. Where places like Japan encouraged companies to give large raises to match inflation (thus causing more though), in the US that basically just never happened and wages remained the same, while they try to blunt borrowing.

The GP price hike after Phil keeps saying they're happy with the price still seems bad though.

@SplooshDmg @Tharsman Yeah, I can't think of any time in history electronics costs on existing tech went UP, let alone not DOWN. This is really historic, and the idea of introducing new premium hardware that's more premiumer than the old hardware that's apparently more premiumer than it was 2 years ago makes little sense. If people wanted to spend toward $1k on gaming hardware they'd be rocking 4080's already.

IDK if the pandemic showed a meaningful trend like that. People were willing to pay a premium on some products because those were the only products they were buying at the time, and the goverment was stuffing their pockets with extra money at the time. That.........is not translating to the overall economy or retail today.

Of course some people will pay those premiums, but certainly not the masses, and clearly these companies want the masses. But again, if they're NOT doing it in the US, it may be a little bit of navel gazing as we're looking at it from the US stagflation perspective which may be accounted for, while other territories are more likely just rolling with the bubble more?

Just found out they are NOT raising prices in America! So the rest of the world is paying for the Activision Blizzard merger then. What a ***** move.
Will be looking at Nintendos next console with great interest.

Wow a lot of drama on here already. Here is my take on it. Im either going to cause more drama or get a few polite disagreements. Hopefully the latter!

• Price Increase was predictable even from MS. Dont like quoting a certain political figure that makes me cringe but inflation is a global issue and we are seeing big corps react accordingly some later than others. The previous article some people are quoting wasnt BS from Microsoft it was spot on, they wanted to hold off passing costs on while they saw what the market would do long term, nothing wrong there.
• Subscription price increases are inevitable was bound to happen here.
• Do not think it has much to do with the releases suddenly about to become more frequent. I think most consumers casual or hardcore would spot that game a mile off and vote with their wallets accordingly.
• Those bragging about using whatever offer was on and getting GPU for however many months/years. Good fer yew. Not everyone has access to that now and it most likely contributed to this happening quicker. Id be mindful of those who missed the boat here. They are the ones paying the higher price in a bad economy now.
• Bottom line. GPU is still insane value for money. Even at 12.99 I still think first party day one alone is worth the hike, but doesnt hurt any less.

Im sure ill get some rants and raves at me for this but ill suffix every comment with one thing.

Just my opinion.

They should have softened the blow by officially announcing the friends & family Game Pass bundle for most markets as well.

@Fiendish-Beaver My guess would be that most of the frustration has come from the fact that it was Microsoft themselves that repeatedly said they had no plans to/didn't need to raise the price of game pass and then have turned around and announced am increase out of the blue. Most people would have expected that it was inevitable that the price would go up at some point, but it was MS that were maintaining that it wouldn't go up.

MS is just increasing the Series X prices in those certain markets to match the PS5 so I don't see a huge issue there. They can't keeping making the same loss while other manufactures increase prices. MS held out for as long as possible so I won't be mad paying an extra £30 for a Series X.

Gamepass prices are increasing but when you look at the stacked AAA games coming from Sept this year into 2024 and beyond the extra £1/$2 is not a huge deal.

Phil Spencer did warn prices may need to increase I am pretty sure I sure that article on here so I cannot say I am surprised at all. I feel sorry for anyone who is/or easily upset by the harsh reality of economics .

@NEStalgia And you may be right, my point is more just that I think the people sitting on the top floor at Sony HQ saw people rushing in droves to buy a $1000 PS5 from a scalper. I don't think they can just un-see that.

There's also a lot of suspicion that the inflation is partially just corporations raising prices because they feel confident that they can and get away with it. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, the entire global economy is all ****ed up, and trying to put our finger on exactly why is challenging.

Xbox is helping me make an easy decision here lately in walking away from the platform.

Constant third party skipping on major Square Enix releases, first party games that have taken way too long to come out, continued price increases for a sagging subscription service.

Meanwhile, Nintendo had their direct today and games after games were announced and scheduled to hit this year!

Microsoft has let us down and I’m tired of waiting around for them to get their act together.

It's still a good value proposition for me. Any higher and I might think about dipping in and out. And I very much enjoy the content

the price increase was expected, as they confirmed it MONTHS ago. MS does it now to capitalize those who will play Starfield.

@Kingleo31

Then sell your console and move on. The Square Enix thing is likely not gonna change anytime soon, especially with Sony willing to do what it has to in order to get exclusivity on many of their titles. Anyone that is a big fan of Square should either be on a Sony console or at least be a multi console gamer.

As for their first party, everyone knows whats in the pipeline and everyone knows MS has had issues with first party for some time now. If there isnt enough on Xbox to make the wait worthwhile, than ditching the console and moving on just makes sense.

Myself, I would be gaming on my Xbox just for 3rd party alone. Vastly prefer the controller and just the overall ecosystem and 90% of the games I play are 3rd party. Add in Game Pass and first party, even with the problems, and sticking around is a very easy choice for me. I still think MS needs to do better in many areas, but all of the things I mentioned makes being patient a lot easier. For others like yourself, probably best to just cut your losses, sell your hardware and go elsewhere. You can always come back at a later time if any of those things change for the better.

The fact no one saw this coming makes me laugh.

@Jireland92

I am pretty sure most saw this coming. Its the overall timing of it that is throwing most people.

I was told yesterday by one of the fanboys a GP price hike would never happen because Phil said so 🤣🤣🤣

This comment section has everything, Sony fan boys, fake casuals, armchair experts, and fake outrage. Kind of depressing to see.
I mean, does anyone here even enjoy games? Or do they just want to complain and cry and scream about something that isn't even that big of a deal. Subscription service raises price, so what? Cancel it if you don't like it. Xbox could sell their exclusives without it, then see what happens. Ugh

The aggressive fanboyism from a very small number of posters here is pretty funny. I guess it is to be expected on a gaming site.

Ultimately it comes down to value. In the US, ultimate now costs $204/yr. The answer to "Is it worth that much?" will be different for everyone.

You can justify it a few ways. That is three AAA day 1 games purchases.

For me, if I look back over the last year, how many AAA games that showed up on GP day 1 would I have purchased on Day 1. The answer is zero.

That leaves indie games and older games. For me, the next question is did I play enough of those games to justify $204 per year. Definitely not.

For me, I will probably cancel GP after my gold conversion time runs out.

That being said, I respect that the answer is different for other people. IMO, it depends on a few factors:

• How much free time you have. If you are willing to farm rewards every day you can get it for free or much less which changes the value proposition.
• What kind of games you play and does the service have a lot of those games.
• How do you consume games? Do you complete one game and go onto the next or do you play the same small number of games every day.
• Do you have a backlog of games waiting for you? If you do, day 1 games have less value.

@evan23

That pricing is a little misleading tho. Pretty sure the vast majority of Xbox gamers are going to get Xbox Live Gold, so they can play online, even if they don't have Game Pass. That alone is 59.99 a year. So most would be moving from paying $59.99 a year, for just Xbox Live and no access to any games, to Game Pass or vice versa. So basically from $59.99 a year to roughly $204 a year or $204 a year to $59.99 a year depending on if you are subbing or cancelling, a difference of roughly $144.

If you're gonna do a fair pricing assessment, that has to be factored in, at least for the vast majority of gamers on Xbox. So its really much more accurate to compare it to buying 2 AAA games a year. And of course, those are MSRP's. As everyone knows, its not hard getting deals and paying below MSRP. CDkeys currently has Game Pass subs as much as 46% off for 1 month and 29% off for 1 year.

@SplooshDmg Oh now I have a picture of suits seeing scalping prices and losing their eyeballs thanks to you.

@LoquaciousB it's really easy. Give it a go. I can help.

Good that I stacked 3 years of Xbox Live Gold last month after my GamePass Ultimate expired, then I converted to GamePass Ultimate, as they 1:1 conversion ratio still works. Now I'm covered until 2026 and I roughly paid only 100 USD for 3 years.

@Casco that is flipping awesome. Well done.
I'm stacked until 2025. Go us!!

@iplaygamesnstuff leaving loads of amazing double A games out too. Loads of games on game pass dude.

@RIghteousNixon The discounts work in both directions. You can also buy games at a discount. Even day 1 in most cases. Also, not everyone needs XBOX Gold. Many people play primarily single player games or multiplayer games that don't require gold.

Ultimately, a single way to determine the value for every circumstance would be complicated. Everyone needs to judge the value for themselves and the answer still won't be as universal as some people seem to think.

GP will be a good value for some people and not for others. It is a poor value for me but that doesn't mean it isn't a great value for someone else.

@Kaloudz the gamerpic is Jeanne from Bayonetta.

another crazy thing about this announcement is they chose the exact same time Nintendo throws a direct - and it was a good one. Like...Nintendo is kicking your ass on every metric. Response? A price increase the same hour they release a new 2D Mario game.

bad marketing; bad corporate strategy infuriates me. if they had done this in October - a month after everyone is high on Starfield? Great choice. But today is just dumb Dumb DUMB.

@Fiendish-Beaver It’s not necessarily the price more the principle. For my preferences Gamepass has been dry since Wo Long and Hi Fi Rush and now, a few months out from the first big AAA 1st party releases in nearly two years they raise the price. It’s a pretty cynical move from the supposedly more “Pro Consumer” company.

There’s a reason they are doing it BEFORE they acquire ABK and not AFTER. This way they can’t say they raised it due to the acquisition, and everyone will forget about it when the big games start dropping. I mean, the competition has taught us that raising prices is ok and people will pay whatever is needed to play popular games. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

@Kaloudz actually, in october, spencer said consoles and game pass will have to rise at some point, but not this holiday (which it didn’t). People acting brand new around here when he clearly stated what would happen.

2023 is nothing but L's from Microsoft. Absolutely awful.

When are Xbox owners going to see something good from this company?

@Kaloudz well come september i’ll be playing STARRRRRFIELLDDDDDD for hours on end, along with some Forza sprinkled in come october. Frankly, i wont give a d*mn!

@themightyant Probably because back in the earlier days they just dumped a ton of games into it from their back catalogue like "Here you go with 5 gears games and 7 Halo games etc". But now every game has to be made and it takes time.
@HarmanSmith Yep, but with Avatar, Star Wars and a decent-looking AC game such as mirage, they seem to be having a good time coming as well.
@Stocksy I wonder if they will ever publish those subscriber numbers.

I don't understand what people are complaining about. Inflation continually rises and Microsoft like every other company has to pay employees that expect raises with and beyond inflation.

Any person that does not think the price for GamePass or any other service will rise is not in touch with reality. MS has waited longer than most companies to raise their prices.

Just as a food for thought. In 2010 I was buying AAA games for the pre-release price of $49.99 CDN and special editions rarely went to $79.99. I just bought Diablo IV yesterday for $89.99 CDN.

Games and game services are more expensive now. You can whine all you want, but that won't change the price.

Didn't they JUST say they weren't going to increase prices? Good job Microsoft, I'm sure everyone will want to buy into your ecosystem now.

@Kaloudz Problem that Xbox has compared to Netflix, TV Shows often take like a year or maximum two to make a season, a movie often around 2 years. So with some parallelisation you can have a ton of content coming every month. Meanwhile a decent AAA game takes 3 years min and 10 years max 😂, often landing around 5 years. So one bad game/ one bad planning and you are screwed.

@BrilliantBill I've definitely arrived at a point that I'm happy to just pay for a PC Game Pass sub when I want to use it, and even then, I can just use rewards points to pay for it. But this notion of just being subbed perpetually just doesn't sound as appealing as it used to. Like you said, it takes time to make games. There's really no guarantee I truly want to play something on game pass every single month.

Big Phil dunt half tell some porkies!! 😂😂

You couldn't wait...like 3 weeks and ride the hype train a little before shooting it in the foot? Good lord. So dumb on the timing.

Everyone on here does know about the Live Gold hack right? Game Pass costs me about £35 a year, PS+ extra costs me double that!!

@Lastatopiny £35 a year !!! Wow your being ripped off , buy turkey/Brazil Xbox gold then you can get 3 years for approx £70

@Krysus
Lol, right? I'm hoping they have some exciting news (maybe with the ABK deal) that they're banking on using to cover this up.

But yeah, Xbox marketing is pretty bad. lol. Maybe they should have invested some of that 70 billion into making commercials, focus testing, and getting marketing exclusivity. And of course some people to tell them when and where and how to bring out news like this.

Here for the comments and the teeth gnashing. Lol

Big name games are now $70 bucks a pop and people are wailing over a $1 or $2 increase per month. GP and GPU are more than worth the cost.

@Martsmall how do i do that? Will it work in England?

@Lastatopiny
Run out of ultimate , Buy 12 month turkish/brazil gold ( up to 36 months ) from sites like gamivo /eneba etc , use a VPN ( urban Vpn ) to pop em on your account then buy another 1 month stackable ultimate code ( usually around £3 ) apply to account done

Yeh I'm in the UK

@evan23

Absolutely it’s going to be different for everyone value wise. And yes, you can get games at a discount upon release..the $70 AAA figure is just a simple way to gauge the overall value. It’s certainly not something that is set in stone. You can just as easily say 3 roughy $45 dollar games or roughly 7 $20 dollar games.

That said, the VAST majority of Xbox users have Xbox Live, either separately or through Game Pass. Gamers who just play single player games and don’t sub to Live or Game Pass make up a tiny tiny fraction of overall Xbox users. Xbox Live’s overall numbers prove that unequivocally. So no matter what angle you come at it from, you simply have to factor in the cost of Xbox Live when looking at any price assessment for Game Pass, at least when dealing with the vast majority of people gaming on Xbox and I made sure to state that in my initial reply to you.

Basically, the difference for the vast majority of Xbox gamers between having Game Pass Ultimate at the new price point and not subbing to Game Pass will be roughly 144 dollars, using MSRP’s. Again, basically 2 full priced $70 AAA games a year.

@NeoRatt Yeah won't somebody think of the poor trillion dollar corp who is currently spending 70B on another gaming corp, they're really struggling here and need all the money they can get.

Dude between season passes, MTX, DLC and such MS, Sony and all the others never needed to up the price to $70, they done it because they knew they could get away with it and not because they needed too. Gamepass could never see a price hike and nothing would change for MS and its staff, that extra cost they're adding will not go towards its workers it will go in the pockets of snakes like Phil who know its playerbase have no choice but to pay it.

subs starts - October 2022 - October 2023
October 2023 - October 2024 - Sub ends
I'm already paid in full. no more monthly installments since November 2022.
I'm okay with this.
I might grab another year or two before the price hike.

@WallyWest
That multi-trillion dollar company has shareholders from all over the world. Including retirement funds, regular people, environmental investors, and many philanthropists.

They all expect to make consistent returns on their investments. If they pay their people more they expect more revenues. If the costs of doing business goes up they expect the consumers to pay for it. Never will any company whether it is the local pizza shop or a multi-trillion dollar company allow their profits to fall substantially.

The only reason they all charge what they charge is because gamers are willing to pay for their consoles, games, and services. Last I checked gaming was a totally optional expense. If you don't like the prices speak with where you spend your dollars.

I never buy MTX or DLC. I pay once for my games and that's it. If it is incomplete or they entice me to use MTX to move forward and I think it unreasonable, I stop playing the game. There are many games out there that do not have MTX or DLC that are very fun and engaging. Nobody is putting a gun to your head forcing you to buy anything they make.

This year will be worth it just for Starfield and Forza alone, both games I would have purchased day 1 if it weren’t for Game Pass. And I have already played Hi Fi Rush, Wo Long, Planet of Lana, Somerville, Atomic Heart, and a few others. Dead Space remake will be on by the end of the year. Just found out Texas Chainsaw Massacre is coming, a game I was looking forward too. I get to try out Exoprimal. I get that the service isn’t for everyone but damn it just continues to be hands down the best deal I have ever had in my entire life gaming wise. This price increase is meaningless to me.

Oh, it also saved me from buying Redfall, which I likely would have done if not for Game Pass. I was looking forward to that game. Game Pass, not only great at letting you play great games, but also great in saving you from buying some crappy ones!!!

@NeoRatt

To each their own brother but damn you are missing out on some killer content if you just write off DLC altogether. I get that a lot of DLC could have been and should have been incorporated into the main game, but at the same time much of it is a legitimate addition to a game developed after and can add significantly to a game you like and some of it has been amazing.

@NeoRatt "Nobody is putting a gun to your head forcing you to buy anything they make."

Yet there's entire conferences who the likes of Sony, MS, Activision and such attend that teaches them how to make people think they have a gun to their head. Its easy for people like you or me to resist if we want too but someone with addictions? People who feel FOMO hard? People who feel peer pressure? People with ODCD? People with certain types of autism? Yeah that gun to head is there for them and the mighty Sony and MS are explicitly after them not you. Its ignorant to think everyone has a choice when a subset of people can't see a choice.

@RIghteousNixon
I get DLC by waiting for definitive editions of games. If I know a game is going to have a substantial amount of DLC I wait til the definitive edition of the game releases.

I do buy expansions for 5-10 year games like Elder Scrolls Online, Destiny, and Diablo.

@NeoRaty

Ahhh, that works. Was gonna say, you’re missing some killer content brother. If you have the patience, certainly a good way to do it.

@WallyWest
So, what would you do to fix that?

Do you want everything regulated and cleared? That would make the gaming companies just like telcos and cable companies, We all know how innovation driven they are. LOL. Not at all.

@Kaloudz I called you a fanboy because all you do on here is defend MS, if i see a spade well you know. Hell you even had to give yourself that get out clause with they will only do it with inflation what contradicts the whole they won't price hike GP, if you have to add an "except" that pretty much means the first part of your comments is void because you are admitting they will price hike what they did the next day.

@NeoRatt There's is no fix but defending it doesn't help like at all. MS, Sony, Activision, Ubi and such aren't are friends so why should we blindly defend them when they do something anti-consumer?

@Kaloudz it’s not an individual increase that is significant but the subtle every so often accumulated increase over time. If this follows Netflix’s model then there may be more incremental increases until people start feeling the pinch…

@SplooshDmg In a way this connects to the larger economic shift. I was reading an article on the movie theater business. Their numbers are way down from pre pandemic. They don't expect to even meet the old numbers by 2027. But thanks to higher ticket prices their revenue is actually up.

That's the story of the whole economy. The market for everything is shrinking. Less and less people are even participating in the economy overall anymore. Yet profits are soaring because the limited, wealthy part of the market is willing to spend more and more. It's two parallel economies. When a large chunk of population is removed from the economy and the world around them while another chunk spends like it's 1925...... That's a very very bad omen. How do you look in red?

Beyond that, credit card debt has been reaching historic highs. People spending have been spending money they don't actually have. They're so far not defaulting so it's not bursting the bubble yet. But banks are on edge. When the defaults start accelerating, that's when you stock up on ammo.

@SplooshDmg also the theater article also really confirmed that we're seeing in gaming with Sonys focus and abk and so in.. nearly all theater revenue now comes from the biggest blockbusters. Everything else really doesn't need to exist.. and that's what gaming inevitably is following.

Also not only is PS5 the cheaper console with this, Plus is actually an INSANE value next to it now. Idk how ms could take their principal advantages and make it their weakness.

We've had it all wrong. Xbox isn't going to buy Sega. Sega bought Xbox!!

I will likely cancel until Starfield comes out. Haven’t turned on my series x since I beat Gotham Knights a while back. The price is likely fine but I am basically giving away money since mine gets so little use. I thought I would play on PC but no interest there either. Will buy more stock though.

@Ryu_Niiyama that's a rational and sound logical thing to do =)

@Kaloudz you're the exception hahah

@Cashews I don't really understand this. Why increase the price of series x? They will sell more series x that way if they hadn't increase the tag, right?

@Zoidpilot4 I've seen a report stating that a fanboy wants a petition to put starfield on ps5 exclusively. They're freaking out over starfield.

Not a biggie for me as I have GPU till Nov 24 , then if the old ways don't work ,I get 30000 points a month from rewards so a 12000 points on GPU a month ain't gonna break the bank

@Sam_TSM I'm in a similar boat I bought my Series X last August and paid up Game Pass Ultimate until 2025 landscape might be different by then heck I may even go back to PlayStation who knows will find out either way.

@themightyant I feel the value of GP decreases more and more over time while the price is going up.
Perhaps ABK buyout plus the inevitable additional buyouts once this has gone through will help address that, but it feels like a more extreme version of Netflix where once you've seen everything you want on there its not great value paying month after month waiting for new content. I skipped XBone generation and returned with Series X knowing I had a whole generation of Xbox first party games to play but was done with them after a year. Now I'm at that Netflix point where I'm waiting month after month for the games to come in. Its the same issue with PS Plus. On paper I thought GP was a shoe in for the way gaming was going, but now I'm not so sure which way it'll go.

Not too bothered about the price of Gamepass going up as I don't pay for it and use Microsoft rewards currently to do that. Although most subscriptions usually go up over time anyway due to inflation so it's to be expected at some point. The Series X however going up just seems ludicrous. It's already bad enough that consoles years after release are no longer dropping in price like they used to an tend to maintain the same launch price for much longer but to increase the price? is just going to make less people want to buy it although they do seem to see the Series S as the target system anyway.

@Martsmall Ho do you need to buy the stackable game pass code from a UK of EU site and dies it need to be a Turkish etc or UK code? Also will this work if I have had Game Pass Ultimate in my account before?

@S1ayeR74 nope u can use say a Turkish /Brazilian code for the one month ultimate ,just apply with VPN like the gold codes , or UK ultimate makes no difference ,I usually go for a UK code but that's my preference ,
No as long as when u apply the gold you don't have ultimate or it won't work , doesnt matter if you have done it before or have had ultimate before

At the moment 12 months turkey gold on gamivo is approx £22

30FPS announcements and price increase on old weak hardware. Good work!!

I get that you don't like the timing, @GeeEssEff, but when do you ever buy something without first handing over the money? Yes, the timing is likely to capture as much money as possible from people looking to play Starfield, but that is exactly the point. First off, the game has cost millions to produce, and it needs to be paid for, but secondly, I've read countless posts from people stating that they will pay for a month of Game Pass, play Starfield, and then leave the service. So this price rise is to gain as much money as Microsoft can from people that will do this with the service. There would be absolutely no point in raising the price a month or two after the release of Starfield, as they would miss the income from those that have Game Pass for just the month of the games release. There is nothing cynical about it, in my view, it is just good business sense...

The price hike doesn't affect me anymore, since I cancelled my sub early this year.

I found that, for me, because I replay games a lot, Game Pass isn't worth it in the long run, since games are there, on average, a year or so. I'd rather pay for them when they're on sale and keep them forever.

I did find it good value for money when I got my Series X last year. It was great for catching up on many games.

I understand what you say precisely, @Kevw2006. I think the comments you refer to were in relation to the ABK acquisition, and also that Microsoft would not raise the price after the deal had gone through. Now, I agree, that it was absolutely inevitable that Microsoft would raise their prices, and it's a case of semantics that they do so before the acquisition goes through, but I suppose if they had waited until 6 months after the deal was in place, that people would have been even more unhappy siting the comment from Microsoft that they wouldn't be raising the price of Game Pass. It was, I guess, as no-win situation for Microsoft...

Oof. Well I'm glad I've got about a year left on my 2 years of Ultimate I got when I bought my Series X. I'm sure when inflation drops they'll drop the price back right? Right?...

@NEStalgia Being a tax preparer, I see what kind of money people around me are making. I've said for a while, "You're basically broke as a joke, or you're richer than God. There's just not much in-between anymore." So from where I sit, there's a lot of truth to the weathy class that can continuously afford to just pay the inflated prices and not really give a crap, while others are basically just poorer than ever.

But yeah, credit card debt is obscene right now. I've seen some of my small business clients go from basically being credit free, to having a constant 50k in credit line debt just trying to keep the lights on. So, were now seeing people who just a couple years had very little debt, basically depend on reveloving credit just to scrape by.

In truthfulness tho, I think PS+ is arguably the better value right now. I get what MS is trying to do, but at the same time, I do feel a cheaper subscription that features lots of older AAAs is basically just a digital equivalent to replace the second hand market, if and when physical media finally dies. I've been very uninterested in Game Pass for a while now, and sure, there is stuff on the horizon, but it seems this year that PS+ has been the one turning heads so far, and it paid less for it. I finally played Rift Apart, and it was pretty great. More Ratchet is never a bad thing.

@Fiendish-Beaver highly likely that price will again go up after the ABK buyout. It’s literally following the Netflix handbook right now.

@Martsmall Thanks! I’ll give that s go.

@S1ayeR74 yw if u needs any help add me on Xbox ,same name

Literally just a couple of quid for GPU. Not exactly going to break the bank. It’s a small increase compared to many other services.
It’s peanuts and a story that will create hysteria where none is needed.

It's absolutely innevitable that it will, @PsBoxSwitchOwner. The question is when? If they raise the price 5 years after the ABK deal goes through, then they will still have raised the price after the acquisition has been approved, and there will be people that say, 'Told ya!', and in this case, they will be right, but what do people expect? Pricing to remain the same forever? It's simply unrealistic to believe prices will never increase. It is absolutely a forgone conclusion.

Now, I do think they Microsoft could easily be criticised if they increase prices within a year of the deals approval simply because they said they would not do so. However, people have to accept and understand that Microsoft have to pay Developers to put content on to Game Pass, and that money has to be recouped. Therefore it is entirely reasonable for Microsoft to increase the price of Game Pass every so often.

Personally, I would not expect to see another price rise for another two years following the one they have just announced. So, I would imagine that we will see an increase in July 2025. Anything earlier, and they are easily open to criticism because of their commitment regarding the ABK acquisition. However in the World in which we live right now, everything is becoming more expensive, and that simply has to be reflected in the pricing of things such as Game Pass. Simply put, if the money is not coming in, in terms of subscriptions, the money cannot be spent in terms of content. We get what we pay for. Pay peanuts, and we get less content of lesser quality. Pay a little more, we get more content of higher quality...

@SplooshDmg Exactly, some people do talk about it but it's not talked about enough and half of that is corporate media just operating as an arm of the system placating the masses with complete fiction through omission. Some call it the K-shaped economy, the bifurcated economy. What it really is is a new gilded age (which ended very peacefully and without bloodshed...) The middle that used to be the bulk has been removed, and anyone not moving way up has moved way down. But we still coast on the image of the middle existing.

I don't see it ending very well at all. At least the 30's depression had most everyone moving down and it took a massive war and culling half the population of 2 continents to fix it. But this is something even darker, two economies. When where money is almost new object and one that's mostly stopped buying anything. If it's not Gucci it's dollar store. No society built on a poor serving a rich ever ended well. And this is before AI breaks it even more. Over the next 10 years, half or more of humans will simply have no purpose or value.

Going back years there was an industry study on the retail apocalypse. Even before things became bad, and the conclusion was that all the stuff of "millennials spend differently" etc was all not the cause, the cause was this split. They split it into thirds. The bottom third for the first time ever had negative income, their income didn't even cover the necessities. The middle had significantly reduced discretionary income. The top third was nearly tripling their discretionary income with expenses that didn't really rise so all gains were discretionary. Ultimately, the bottom third stopped buying anything at all, the middle third bought significantly less than before, but the top third was spending so much more it was not only replacing all of the missing spend from the bottom two thirds, but increasing upon it, so the reports would show a strong economy with retail growth, but the reality is only the top third grew, and grew substantially, and grew it mostly with high luxury brands, while 2/3 was pulling out of the economy.

Again, 1/3 of the economy having nearly all the spending money, where almost all goods and services are provided by the bottom 2/3 for the benefit exclusively of the top 1/3. The world has seen this before. And beyond that, quietly, we all adopted China's model. We are them.

And yeah, we're starting to see it in harder numbers. Every industry you look at instead of price competition to sell more products, we see the opposite, shrinking markets for everything driven by higher prices and higher margins. The new business model is just sell less things but sell it at high prices to the top 1/3. You don't NEED most of the market, you just need high margin from the elite. The fact that most of the public still doesn't understand it means it's going to be that much more....interesting....when it suddenly goes bad.

Yeah, Plus prem isn't for me because I own most of what's on it but it's a great looking service, I just have essentials. GP seems better, and with Starfield coming up it's probably worth it, but IDK if I'll keep it long term at this point either since cloud saves aren't locked behind it, that's one good thing. But I really don't play multiplayer so the rest of gold isn't that useful. Only big thing is when it adds to sale prices of things I buy, so I maybe be closer to even there.

Rift was ok. Personally I don't think it's one of the stronger R&C games, the PS4 remake was perfect, but I didn't even bother maxing out all the weapons with another playthrough on Rift. My issue with it is while the PS4 one was fun to keep replaying, it had that classic design as a remake, Rift had a lot of levels that were cool gimmicks the first time through, but then made the level a slog to keep replaying without the interesting factor from the first time.

@Moby here to read comments when people cheer on giant corporations raising prices on the end user. Yay inflation!

where does it stop? I was a super early adopter of YouTube TV back when cord cutting was still a fairly new movement. I think it was $35. "We aren't cable!" they screamed from every rooftop. Then they started raising prices by $5 every 3 months and started adding channels no one would ever watching in 1000 lifetimes like BET and the Oprah network and became cable. Except with youtubetv you can't call someone and they come to your house to fix it. So it is worse-cable.

That's the play here. MS doesn't want you to own any games. Fine, I can go to Nintendo or stay here. But I'm not going to do a cheerleader pyramid when they do.

I have more money than 99.8% of the world's population. I am in the 2% of US earners (yay me sarcastic confetti). I still say F you to companies that raise prices when they do.

Microsoft are a greedy company. I'm honestly annoyed about the increase especially when there's officially no decent titles on Game Pass until later this year. Bad move.

@Lightweight he said they weren't raising over the holiday (which they didn't).

@NEStalgia I have a hard time disagreeing with your assessment of the current economy. Basically, the whole thing is buggered up, and at this point... Who knows what it's going to take to fix it.

Really, I like both services in different ways. Sony gets me because they basically force me to buy a year at a time with a nice discount. Something GP doesn't do. But I can also just pay for a month of PC Game Pass with rewards points, something Plus doesn't do. They both have their own merits. It really just comes down to is there really a game I Want to play that month. However, when really get down to splitting hairs, I'm just more excited for what MS is cookin. Sony's games are good, but they often time just don't appeal to me. MS's RPG factory strongly appeals to me. Lol

I definitely wouldn't say Rift is a particularly strong R&C, but from where I stand, even bad R&C is still pretty good. I was just more chuffed that they sort of retconned a lot of how the plot from Into the Nexus concluded. I guess they sort of assumed that we'd just forget what happened ten years ago. You know, the part where Ratchet said he doesn't care about finding the Lombax's anymore and just wants to stay with Talwyn. So, no idea what happened there. Lol

@Kaloudz Clearly Sony showed us that people will buy stuff no matter what the price increase is, and Nintendo nickel-and-dimes you with having to rebuy the same game over and over because they can't get back compat to work half the time.

Just hyperbole and conjecture in the comment section when in reality people are either overdramatic, hypocritical, or both.

Once Starfield comes out no one will care.

@J_Mo_Money

Ahh thank you, I thought he said something on it.

Gamepass haven't given me anything worth playing since Hifi Rush. I kept it as it was possible to earn money back in Microsoft points, but their point tracking is terrible and its becoming more of a hassle than its worth.

I think I'll just get Gamepass for a month here and there from now on when there is actually something I want to play.

Anyone defending this because it’s ‘only this amount extra’ needs a slapping. It could be a penny extra, the messaging is typical MS BS.

When Sony was raising games to create the new standard of £70 MS was there winning brownie points proclaiming ‘it’s not fair to raise the price during economically challenging times’…whilst they had no current gen games to raise the price of. The moment they did they slapped on that £70rrp
For years they’ve been selling 12month subs off the promise of games like starfield releasing day1…only to have no first party day 1 AAA games released for it all of last year…now the moment those games are actually coming they raise the price? Whilst keeping the price of PC GP the same? ***** off MS

Like I said, I dont care if it’s a penny. The message is they’re taking liberties with console gamers… Phil said it last month, console gamers are financially valuable to them… and that’s all the value we offer. Xbox think nothing of offering us unpolished incomplete games. Think nothing of still placing a paywall on mp on games they release day1 on PC without that paywall. At least when Sony are milking their customers they’re actually offering quality products, and demonstrating a sense of value in PlayStation owners by making them the priority with game releases… rather than hammering home a message of ‘gaming for everyone’ whilst treating console players as…let’s be honest, second class.

Yeah MS deserve all the L feedback then get right now

@Kaloudz and then you got the people trying to not sound hypocritical when they say it's different when sony/nintendo do it (even though its crazy that ps plus premium is STILL more expensive than game pass ultimate) and you got nintendo nickel and diming you with the same games every gen, along with locking content behind amiibo, but the same people are still in line day one. No integrity, lemme tell ya.

On a side note, Super Mario RPG dude. can't wait!

@J_Mo_Money Plus Premium is cheaper than GPU under the OLD GPU pricing if you buy the 12 month sub. It's ridiculously cheaper now.

@SplooshDmg We really did rebuild feudalism. We don't call it that but that's what it is. I don't see an end without a war on a scale that has never been seen. Realistically in the past, every economic pressure that existed was always resolved by culling double digit percentages of population. Everyone who survives is worth more after. I don't see that reality ever changing. Except this time double digit percentages are measured by billions.

Yeah, MS rpg factory speaks much more to me than the movie/service games thing from Sony overall, but at the saem time it may end up cheaper just buying the games unless they also don't do sales anymore which honestly wouldn't surprise me.

Ratchet used to be an adventurer but took an arrow to the knee. Then remembered he doesn't have knees so he went back to adventuring.

@NEStalgia Well, considering the birth rate in most developed nations is rapidly declining, that is going to bring about its own economic issues eventually, I'd say we're even seeing it some already. Something really has to give on that end eventually, because the economy will ultimately shrink with the replacement rate shrinking.

I am subbed to GP until well into 2024, but I'm highly considering just buying Starfield on Steam. Mod support on the Xbox PC app is... Minimal. I really hate to think I'm missing out on the Starfield modding community.

@NEStalgia if you buy the 12 month sub, but monthly PS Premium is 17.99 where GPU is going to 16.99 monthly and includes day and date games. I wait for game pass ultimate on black friday every year anyway, and it costs 22-24 dollar for a 3 month so it's roughly $100 for a year, which i'll keep doing because that's a steal at that price IMO.

@SplooshDmg "markets" freak out about that, however the part of the economy we're talking about, that's a good thing not a bad thing. The problem we have is the value of labor is effectively 0. For ever task that needs doing there's 50 people to do it. Labor has no value, so wages do not exist. That's the core issue. Cutting the population helps that significantly. The problem is the developed nations then just import population to maintain that because business demands cheap labor (but increases prices to the maximum the wealthy will pay to maximize profits.)

That's a big part of why the renaissance happened, the plague culled population, so suddenly labor had tremendous value.

Bottom line, about 3 billion people need to be disappeared. Whether that happens by a century of not replacing them or if it happens by nuking a continent to the andromda galaxy doesn't matter. Population needs to be resized to match the modern "super efficient" automated production world that needs less labor. or a new economic model that resembles a lot about Communism but isn't actually Communism needs to emerge. In the high tech auotmation age, live=production=labor isn't a valid economic model. We either need to right-size the population to match the automated production means which means now is the time to invest in body bag mfrs, or Capitalism has outlived its usefulness, because it's based on an industrial economy's needs, not a technology economy's needs, and some means of sharing the outsized value of production without significant labor input needs to exist. That makes me shudder because no matter how you slice it it ends up becoming nobles that control all things handing out allowances to their "dependents". Either that or put the genie back in the bottle, outlaw technology and mandate a mid-20th century level of technology is the maximum allowable technology to maintain an economic order.

Really I'd just go bullish on the body bags.

@J_Mo_Money yeah the monthly on Plus is more expensive. Does anyone do the monthly though? The 12-mo is a legit value offer. MS used to do that but stopped. A quiet price increase.

The problem with the black friday deals is you're limited to one 3mo card per store. I've had mixed results trying to secure a year's worth of that.

@NEStalgia I dunno, maybe. I kinda think Carlin was right. People spend money they don't have, on crap they don't need, to impress people they don't like. I'm far from rich, but I'd tell you I live pretty comfortably mostly because I don't blow all my money on nonsense and I put a lot of effort in at home to mitigate further expenses like food, etc. Even my overpriced GPU was a calculated purchase with money I actually had, for a thing I actually use. I'm not sure if capitalism has outlived its usefulness, or if consumerism has just gone completely insane. Maybe a bit of both, really.

Part of the inflation is just driven by banks lending money, and even cranking up the prime rates, some people are still buying. We had a gal that was a self-employed property appraiser that finally just shut down her business because real estate around here has finally moved to a crawl. Really, I think we as a civilization need to rethink a whole lot about our priorities, and what we truly need and what we truly don't. We know corporations are greedy, that's no secret. However, I do think the average person thinks they are maybe entitled to a lifestyle that was really never sustainable to begin with.

@NEStalgia you arent limited. go to cdkeys thats where i get it every year. works great. i used to use bestbuy and while you are limited to 1 card per transaction you just needed to do the transaction and then do another one and you could continually get 3 month cards. CDKeys is the most convenient still because you can stack there.

@NEStalgia in the UK the PS5 is 479. And it says here, xbox will be 479. So they're the same price now. Not sure about other regions. But it's the same in UK.

@Cashews lol bless your heart

This isn't good, it is what it is. Now, for me the service is worth that money and if Microsoft finally get it together and do a good job with first party launches then I think it'll still be worth for many many different types of gamer.

That said price raises are never good for us, less so in the current climate, but it was gonna happen sonner rather than later.

@Martsmall Thank you so much, I got 3 years Game Pass Ultimate using your trick for about 80 quid. Not complaining about that! You are a star. Simple to do too.

@S1ayeR74 your welcome matey , sorted for 3 years now

My Ultimate expires in August and I doubt I'll renew. There's not been anything I've been desperate to play on Gamepass for ages now. I might get the odd month here and there if any games I want to play come to the service.

@RIghteousNixon The game launches on September 1st. But for 5 days it’s locked behind an additional £35 paywall. The game is done and out on September 1st, that’s it’s launch day. But if you only pay £70 or plan to play it on GamePass you have to wait until September 6th.

So yeah he’s was very accurate.

@Gkobz No not a direct 1 to 1 conversion you have to wait for your current Gamepass to run out for that.

You can actually stack them if you already have Gamepass but they would be at a much lower rate.