Absolutely. I had the same idea. These changes shouldn’t affect indie games in the service. I hope they have plan for that.
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Oh damn…only two games? Wow.
For the first half of 2025 alone, I had Avowed, South of Midnight, Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Towerborne and Doom: The Dark Ages. For the second half, I have Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2 (im ready for the premium upgrade on the 24th!! are you?) and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
I also tried out Atomfall, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Wuchang and Sniper Elite Resistance but dropped three of them within an hour or two. NG2B was dropped around the halfway point. I still want to tryout Oblivion but who knows when I will have the time to do so.
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I‘ve extended it a few more months with a cheap retail code but have cancelled the recurring payment and sub after that. I am not really interested in CoD and Fortnite stuff so I don’t wanna pay for it . It sucks the other day 1 games won’t be an option anymore though. Unrelated to that I want to be more in control of what I play again. Sometimes Game Pass FOMO was a bit too much. I will miss discovering all these amazing games I wouldn‘t have played without the service though. Not quite sure how I‘ll identify those going forward.
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Key is “games I would have bought day one”. That’s those two games, yes.
There’s more games I’m interested in on Game Pass this year, but not something I need to jump on immediately. And if I don’t have to play them day one, the value of GP vs. picking something up on sale later is a lot less. Especially since most games are simply better when they have matured a bit.
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Okay, gotcha and can’t really disagree especially about games being better months after release.
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I’m stacked for a couple years and plan to buy codes to hit the max. This gives me plenty of time to see what this new ultimate has to offer at the old price.
I considered downgrading based on not spending enough time in this hobby to justify the price. It ends up being around 6 new releases a month. I realize I don’t have the time to play that many games, however, I can try several of them to determine which I think are worth committing to. That is quite the luxury.
I really do enjoy the curation it provides. It’s frustrating to buy a game, not feel it and either force yourself through it or feel bad about dropping it.
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Leaning towards cancelling . I’m subbed until apr 2027, so I’ll decide then . I’m okay with paying for games I want . The only multiplayer game I play on Xbox is fifa, overwatch and cod . Only one of those games require online paywall . So might just stick with f2p games or just use ps5 for online games
I will need to review stacking methods to see if it’s worth keeping because $35cdn seems too steep for me
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I will sub to play fighting games online, but that is the cheapest sub. I don’t care about Ultimate since I already played Ninja Gaiden 2 Black and Doom TDA
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My sub ends on the 19th of May 2026. I will get the cheapest sub then because of needing it for online play.
Will go back to buying games on sale.
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I’m stacked until Spring 2027 on Ultimate, but all things considered I think Premium represents the best value for money so may well drop at that stage.
Long way off though and new Xbox hardware/software announcements could change things.
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I wonder if there is gonna be yet another change to the service given the backlash over ultimate. Kinda curious.
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Keeping.
I think ours last until next year or 2027, have to check but me and my brother split the costs and 30 euros is still doable.
Plus I expect it will always be possible to find it discounted on several sites. In the case I didn’t have a sharing buddy I would probably quit with it, work on that backlog and once some real good shit gets added I’ll grab a month.
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Who knows what the situation will look like two years from now. 
Feels like so many unpredictable changes are happening all the time.
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I canceled my Game Pass subscription because the developers I truly admire deserve our direct financial support when they release a game that resonates with my personal taste. There are plenty of examples of this take Obsidian, for instance several times,they said it’s better to buy their games directly, as that genuinely supports their future projects. So the Game Pass “bubble” never really appealed to me on the contrary it proved that it doesn’t suit large budget productions. That’s why we’ve seen many mid to high budget games struggling compared to what Sony and Nintendo deliver
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Sorry but bullshit. Obsidian get paid regardless, they’re employees of a massive company and Game Pass guarantees a regular income that can pay their salaries, while games sales can be up and down - if it’s a release year, up, but if it’s a year when you’re just developing they’d be down.
Subscriptions provide stability and security of cash flow, which is why so many companies in so many sectors are moving that way compared to one off sales - there’s not a corporate provider around for example that isn’t trying to eventually get their customers onto cloud versions they can earn annual fees on, compared to just the support contracts for on-premise versions.
Retail is just a bit behind - and I say that as someone who hates having to deal with all the suppliers trying to sell cloud products so I’m not exactly a fan of the corporate way.
I’m not saying it’s always great for the consumer, but for the company themselves it’s always a win - and for the same reason as MTX and DLC, that subscriptions provide income beyond the initial sale which is nowhere near enough in this modern world for the demanding shareholders.
This narrative of helping the devs is pushed by a few bad apples from Xbox like Ybarra and Hines, and massively by the PlayStation fanboys who also bought the “we believe in generations” bullshit - but they then wait for a sale or buy it and trade it back in (meaning someone else will buy that copy = a lost sale).
In truth, the things that would really help the devs are getting rid of rampant capitalism where “the numbers must go up every year” means huge layoffs and increased productivity demands all the time, improve their work / life balance by accepting delays, demanding better of their employers so they get enough time to release in a great state Day 1 (so people will buy or jump in then, rather than wanting to wait a year for it to be patched and cheap) and for social media and the public to treat them with respect and not stalk / harass them because some plot point or character didn’t fit with their politics or desires…
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Carrie Patel and Josh Sawyer have said multiple times in some interviews and if I remembered which channel, I’d share the link that buying the game helps them financially. I think Carrie and Josh know better than you or me how things are managed financially
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Yes but both were doing that at the time that Obsidian was trying to justify a number of its games releasing on PS5 - they were pointing out that additional sales are always going to help Obsidian stay in business.
Carrie has since left, and Sawyer on social media hasn’t ever come across as the biggest fan of Xbox or Game Pass anyway - which is odd given Pentiment was clearly a perfect Game Pass game, as it was so weird that it kinda needed to be “free” to try it as most people I know either loved it or hated it (I loved it).
I’ve no doubt senior staff still prefer sales as it gives them “wins” and a way to argue for bigger bonuses / shares / higher salaries - but I mean for the developers, QA teams etc. on the rock face of development they’d rather have a steady income that pays wages and allows them to make what they love without huge stressful deadlines than have to hope they can get a game released and get high sales before they run out of cash.
That latter scenario has played out all over gaming - one bad release, or one release that hits development hell and misses its release date, and the companies can be left without funds so have to close up shop.
For a long time, Game Pass allowed devs in Xbox to take a bit of a breather from that stress and build more experimental stuff like Grounded, Pentiment, Keeper and HiFi Rush - the awful stuff that followed with layoffs, such close attention to profit with demands it always goes up and less risky efforts being preferred have all come since and are not due to Game Pass, they’re due to the ABK merger making Xbox big enough to get the attention of that most awful of groups, the shareholders.
The never-ending demand for profits to go up, costs to go down and share prices to rise has led us to late-stage capitalism where gaming is just one casualty thrown to the lions in order to keep “numbers going up” - it’s the same reason PlayStation and Nintendo are gouging more money from their customers than ever before, and at least with Game Pass I feel like I’m getting something back for it.
Until capitalism in the US becomes more like some European models, where “social impact” or “employee welfare” become as important as stock valuation and profit, inequality will continue to rise and layoffs and other shit we customers don’t like will continue to happen - Game Pass price rises might be a symptom of it, but the subscription itself is not the bloody cause of it, it’s the stupid system itself
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Mine will run out at the end of the year and I might look at doing a few months of PlayStation Plus beyond the basic tier. Give it a shot.
Looking at maybe getting GPU in the last half of next year. I think I might get GTA6 and get lost in its single player for a couple months.
The big thing for me was the MS Rewards thing. If they still allowed for points to redeem the middle tier I would have migrated to that and then upgraded when Forza Horizon 6 is out.
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I’m not calling either a liar, but fundamentally if you’re a studio owned by a publisher then it is up to the publisher what money goes to you and that amount is usually fixed. The publisher handles all the costs of production, distribution, and everything. If you’re an independent studio partnering with a publisher then it depends on your contracts. And independently published games have to figure it all out themselves.
Unless Microsoft started running a charity then it doesn’t matter to them whether an obsidian game is bought or played through Game Pass. What does matter is engagement and a return on value (which maybe Microsoft does get more value from direct purchases than GP subscribers, but that’s all on Microsoft to figure out and regardless they aren’t paying developers more or less than their set salaries).
I can understand the point a bit more if it’s a third party game on Game Pass from an independent studio, but those studios chose to make a deal with Microsoft because they found the money exchange fair, satisfactory, or in some cases life saving (because it’s hard for indie games to market themselves and a stable consistent promised amount of money up front (or over a period of time or whatever) is big). And when you play a game on Game Pass you’re telling Microsoft that the investment they made in that game (putting it on game pass and endorsing it) was worth it and they should continue to make deals with the studio behind it and maintain a healthy relationship.
As long as you’re not pirating or buying a game second hand (something gamers love and which certainly isn’t legally, but realistically means that publishers and developers aren’t seeing any part of that second sale (there’s a reason why the industry is happy to move to digital (minus consumers))), then you’re supporting the game. Don’t let that concern stop you from playing and having fun through whatever method you desire. Though it’d be cool if publishers and Xbox had a direct “donate to XYZ studio button” or heck, let some super fans fund experimental projects the publisher won’t greenlight (wait… that’s sounding less cool and more exploitative, never mind).
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I don’t think it worked out for the last person to suggest this out loud.
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