The gaming world has seen an industry-wide wave of outrageous price hikes to software, hardware, and services that have taken a heavy toll on consumers. Recently, Xbox has come under fire for its price changes to its Game Pass service, which has seen its highest-tier balloon to $29.99 a month. In a very welcome change of pace, Xbox just revealed a price reduction for Game Pass Ultimate along with a few tweaks to its benefits.
Is the Price Right?
Starting today, Xbox revealed via an Xbox Blog post that Game Pass Ultimate will drop from $29.99 to $22.99 a month. PC Game Pass will also see a price drop from $16.49 to $13.99, depending on the customer’s region.
The biggest change to Game Pass will center around the Call of Duty franchise, which will not be released on Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. Instead, new Call of Duty games will be added to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the following holiday season, while existing Call of Duty titles will continue to be available on the service as is.
“Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we’ve gotten so far. We’ll continue to listen and learn.”
Changing Things Up
The news of Game Pass getting a price decrease comes shortly after a leaked memo that had seen newly minted Xbox CEO Asha Sharma claim that “Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation.” Per these words, it seems like Asha Sharma is trying to make good on those promises of regaining the core Xbox fanbase and bringing Xbox back to prominence. Starting with slowly rebuilding what was once widely considered the best deal in gaming is a pretty good start for Asha Sharma and could be a good sign of things to come from Xbox’s new CEO.
