Xbox Game Pass is getting a lot more expensive—up to 50 percent more expensive for the all-you-can-eat Ultimate tier—which is a problem for a service that appeals to players based on its relative affordability. It looks like Brad Chacos isn’t the only one cancelling before the higher prices hit, as the Game Pass website is straining under increased traffic.
Yesterday, posters on the Xbox subreddit noticed that when they tried to cancel their Game Pass subscriptions, they were met with errors on the Microsoft My Access website where you manage your various Microsoft-associated accounts. Apparently, a considerable number of users found themselves unable to cancel Game Pass, met with this message: “We couldn’t load your subscriptions. Refresh and we’ll try again.”
The Reddit post (spotted by Windows Central) implies that Microsoft is blocking people from cancelling their subscriptions. That seems unlikely to me. With Hanlon’s Razor in full effect, I’d say it’s more likely that the news of the price increase just nudged a lot of people to do some quick budgeting match and drop the sub. (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, et al. are probably used to the same dips by now.) Perhaps it’s unsurprising that a 50 percent jump—from $20/month to $30/month for the most popular tier—would cause a rush to leave the service… but the idea that it would overload Microsoft of all companies is a bit telling.
The increase in price isn’t without some added benefits. Game Pass Ultimate now includes more classic Ubisoft games and the Fortnite Crew subscription for the mega-popular Fortnite, and the lower tiers (some of which are also getting more expensive) get some extra games and features. Microsoft is pushing its streaming options especially hard, in combination with its “This is an Xbox” campaign.
But Game Pass is Microsoft’s push to create a new and dominant platform for gaming everywhere, as the Xbox console now lags far behind Sony and Nintendo. Game Pass is supposed to be the crowning feature of the new Asus ROG Xbox Ally, and it’ll be front and center when the new gaming-focused Windows 11 interface arrives for other PC gaming handhelds. Prices are going up everywhere, including for the unpopular Xbox itself (oh wait, that was the first increase in Xbox prices this year, it happened again) but kneecapping your value proposition just as you’re teaming up to sell new hardware seems less than wise to me.