Microsoft’s Xbox brand has been in the spotlight lately, especially with regards to its new and upcoming Xbox Ally handhelds, which are scheduled to release this month. However, a recent announcement regarding its Game Pass service has resulted in some rather unfavourable developments for fans and consumers, painting a troubling picture for the gaming brand.
More specifically, Microsoft announced that it will now offer three different subscription tiers for Xbox Game Pass, which consists of Essential, Premium, and Ultimate plans. As you could’ve guessed, this also means changes to pricing, with the Ultimate tier now costing $29.99 per month. While Microsoft did announce several new features along with a wide selection of games for the Ultimate-tier plan, 30 bucks is pretty steep especially considering today’s economy.
As you can imagine, this didn’t go too well with a lot of Game Pass subscribers, leading to widespread cancellation among a growing number of users. It’s actually gotten to a point where Microsoft’s online cancellation webpage has crashed for many users online, leaving many in Game Pass limbo.
As for the rest of its new pricing scheme, existing Game Pass Core subscribers will automatically transition to Essential which costs $9.99/month, while Standard subscribers will be shifted to Premium which goes for $14.99/month.
