It's safe to say that yesterday's Game Pass changes haven't exactly gone down well with Xbox fans, particularly that huge price increase for Ultimate subscribers - and now we've spotted some Microsoft exec quotes that dropped alongside those changes, including a mention that the team is "listening to the feedback of players" moving forward.
In a briefing with The Verge, director of gaming and platform communications at Microsoft, Dustin Blackwell, said that price bumps "are never fun" - adding that the team is doing work to bring more value to each Xbox Game Pass tier alongside these increases. Here's what Blackwell said on that:
"We understand price increases are never fun for anybody, but we’re trying to reinforce by adding more value to these plans as well,
It’s something we don’t take lightly, and we’re listening to the feedback of players and the community to try to provide them with more of what they’re asking for."
It remains to be seen whether the huge backlash over the GPU price increase counts as feedback they'll be listening to, but they surely will have heard it. Microsoft seems set on this new trio of Game Pass plans for now — with its flashy marketing campaign and new terminology — but anyone who's followed Xbox long enough knows that things can change very quickly with Team Green.
Of course, it also stands to reason that Xbox could simply try and keep bundling more things into its most expensive Game Pass tier. The above quote mentions trying to "provide them [fans] with more of what they're asking for", so we'll have to wait and see if Microsoft continues to bolster its Xbox Game Pass service with more benefits in future.