Exactly why I think it needs to be a ‘‘a la carte’’ model. Your idea with ESO is actually a good one. MS has so many gaas where they can offer subscriptions or Battlepasses like Minecraft, ESO, COD, World of Warcraft, Fallout 76, Overwatch, Diablo 4, etc that they could just have a menu full of options and you build your own Gamepass subscription with perks where the more you add, the bigger the discount.
Some people would have 10-15$ bundles, and I’m sure that just like with cable, some would have 50$ bundles or more.
Having more options would certainly have softened the blow. But I get it, Day 1 + COD is like the number one thing people want and they’ll try to get as much money out of people as they can.
All I can say is that I’ll be doing those Gamepass quests religiously from now on to maximize those gift cards!
Because the future is not going to be console-only, it’s going to have 1 platform that is Console that is PC – they are all one and the same down the road.
That is very clearly the future they want, but I think they’re pushing too hard with it too early. Like I’d understand better if there was no console only tier after they launched their next-Gen Xbox and that truly was more of a hybrid PC or worked to bring PC and Xbox together more. But in 2025 we’re just not there yet. Not everyone plays on both platforms and so much of the library still isn’t Xbox Play Anywhere nor does it have good cross save solutions. This is how Xbox got burnt in the One era. I think the vision is fantastic, but it needs to be executed with more care
I remember a time when I could buy Halo 3, subscribe to the online multiplayer and have a blast for months just with one game. Then return later when ODST released.
Game Pass meanwhile has conditioned players into being a part of an ecosystem. That’s the takeaway for me. Back when we were all on Halo no one really thought “Fable 2 is an Xbox exclusive so I must play that one day one as well!”. No, certainly not when comparing the sales of those titles. People just picked up and played what interested them without that pressure to conform to the latest releases whatever they are. And I see it now with people still talking about ‘how’ they can continue to subscribe etc. using various means. I mean why not just stop subscribing? Or maybe subscribe for one month and skip the next. It’s still an affordable hobby if you know what you’re doing. Aka let go of that FOMO.
Yeah, that’s honestly what I’m going back to. I bought 2 x 12 month GamePass Core cards for $54 each. That’s a nice affordable price and now I don’t have to worry for two years. It’s going to be like going back to the Xbox Live days.
All that said, I do now worry about Xbox as a company in a way I wasn’t worried before. I have a big digital library on Xbox. And now I’m going to be buying more games because GamePass Ultimate allowed me to buy fewer games. Basically I don’t know where Xbox is headed. Hopefully we get more clarity with a new next Gen system next year.
The major issue is its shrinking market share and bad hardware sales. They can handwave this however they want or claim the industry is headed in other directions (streaming? PC? Whatever else) but the fact remains if you’re someone who’s invested in this ecosystem (not just with money but time etc. like earning achievements) then seeing the collapse in sales is not exactly reassuring because business is business. The moment their already shrinking pool of Xbox owners and players shrinks even more… then yeah, we’ll get the “hey guys great news we’re revamping Xbox like never before it’s the best news ever it’s called go get a PC instead. Cheers”.
This is pretty much the endgame I think, I just wonder how that will translate in game sales on their store, and more specifically, in Gamepass retention of all of their current Xbox One and Xbox Series subscribers don’t follow when they have to buy more expensive PCs to stay in the ecosystem.
Like that’s the bet they are taking right now, and I don’t know how bad that will actually affect Gamepass. Unless they really think cloud will take over. But at 30$ per month I don’t know if that’s starting to price people out, especially in poorer country where cloud would make the most sense.
I decided to cancel the subscription service after carefull consideration. The juice simply ain’t worth the proverbial squeeze no matter how much they add to ultimate, the price is simply too much for anyone who is not in a good state finacially speaking.
However i do have to roll my eyes when i see folks leaving the ecosystem because of game pass(I am not talking casuals am talking but those who supposedly are saying microsoft is going to pull the plug on xbox period)
When i hear that i say: So they will be sued to hell and back with massive lawsuits that look more vile than whatever they faced before as well as a complete erosion of trust overall across their corporation? Yeah i sometimes question where this comments come from.
Don’t get me wrong this whole thing is dog dodo, however to say the ecosystem is not worth it without gamepass is wrong. PLay anywhere, cross saves and backwards compatibility are pretty much a standard that has not been followed at all and is far more unique and better at preserving the library alongside the likes of steam and gog.
In fact those three are the ones i would reccomend for people who use more than use ecosystem to expand on as these three are the best bang for your buck in comparision to the competition right now.
I also wouldn’t discount Premium. It’s basically everything Game Pass Ultimate was five years ago just with day one first party coming “within a year” instead of day one.
Honestly one response I’ve had to the overall media’s response is, “how many people were actually subscribed to Ultimate?” How Many people were paying $20 a month? I thought everyone on GPU canceled after that price hike. Places like this where pretty much all of us are hard core (or at least not casual) Xbox primarily console gamers… okay, I believe it. But all the random articles and Twitter posts? People are ignoring that premium is the same price as standard with far more benefits. The way the internet is acting is suggesting that most gamers were on Ultimate, but I was under the impression, from journalists, that most were on core, which did have a price increase, but not to the $30 everyone is mentioning so no, they’re all. Looking at Ultimate… and man, if Xbox really had that many ultimate subs then they’ll quickly reverse decisions because they’d have made more off them at $20 than they will the downgrades to Premium at $15. So I guess there is that hope. If Xbox Game Pass Ultimate was that popular then Xbox has real incentive to keep the price more reasonable.
Edit: to be clear I’m responding to the idea of people Overreacting. You’re very valid for canceling and the $30 GPU price is too much to pay outright. I’m just also saying that GPU wasn’t all the ecosystem or even game pass has going for it. PC game pass is another great option in addition to premium. The highest tier being overpriced shouldn’t be the end of the world like this.
I mean, that’s what we’ve all been saying will happen with the next Xbox anyway right? Or at least all the insiders and rumors? That it’ll just be at most a hybrid PC and possibly just a full PC shell? Long before these price hikes (those have been the prevailing rumors for a while now and they got really strong after the July showcase and AMD announcement).
To give context in my country its now 120 reais for ultimate while premium is around 60. The latter is way too steep compared to other countries and that is not even including other south american countries in the mix.
Good luck getting people to subscribe to Game Pass if the same machine has Steam on it. One look at the Steam sales and people will quickly make up their minds (& no one will pay for multiplayer either obviously). But frankly I don’t see things being so simple for Xbox and MS. The vast bulk of Game Pass subscribers are console users. That console side of the business remains the ‘core’ of Xbox. As things stand. I won’t pretend I can read the future and say where everyone will be gaming in five years time, I’m just saying console owners have valid reasons to feel like they’re getting the short end of the stick here.
Another great article/video by Jon and I honestly don’t think I can add more than what was said in the video, it’s shocking to see such an aggressive price increase with no meaningful, additional benefits (all the “new” benefits excluding the Fortnite crap is not available here in Greece for example) or even plans (family or 3/6 month options) with some sort of discount for the core Xbox audience. It will be very interesting to see how this price increase will affect their GP subs.
My sister (which is a casual gamer) was paying monthly for the service for years (because as others already said at 18 euros it was a non brainer) and after these news she will quit because 27 euros are too much. Gaming in general is becoming more and more expensive the last few years and this can only be a bad thing for the industry as a whole and especially for the future of console gaming.
The only thing that we can do now that all 3 platform holders are pushing every “cost” to the consumers is act accordingly and make the best decisions for our wallet regardless of ecosystem preferences…there is no point in feeling angry & disappointed because in the end we are talking about corporations, gaming is a hobby that we all love and nothing should stop us from having fun and engage with this amazing medium.
That is an accurate response. I have barely bought anything that is not play anywhere related(I only bought unicorn overlord in the last year and maybe monster hunter stories 1 and 2, but i think theyt might get play anywhere treatment) out of the sense that xbox is focusing their efforts more on pc and less on consoles as a whole, so i am preparing myself for anything even though i know they would not do so, but the paranoia is there.
PC game Pass still exists. Its like $17/month and still includes Day 1 and Call of Duty. Other than that, yes, console users are the ones bearing the brunt.
I already did, i focus on only buying play anywherte titles, its rare for me to get a game that is only on consoles now. It sucks but hey am looking out for my library and the only games i use steam for is free to play ones like limbus compnay and reverse 1999.
And its existence as such at that price with full day one + COD just serves as more evidence MS is trying to push its userbase over to PC. It’s pretty self-evident. There’s absolutely no reason ‘why’ console owners should pay nearly double.
I’m not disagreeing, I’m saying this has been the sentiment and rumor for a while now: Microsoft wants to move it’s core gaming business over to PC and more. Closely merge the Xbox ecosystem across PC, cloud, and console. How successful they’ll be remains to be seen. I’m just saying that the idea of Xbox telling people to buy a PC, is one that’s been expressed for a while now (and become really prevalent after the AMD announcement).
I can’t argue that I’ve definitely moved more to PC, it felt like the way things were going and for accessibility it’s much better (I can use cheats or mods to handle the many games that don’t accommodate me) - plus for years I’ve had PC subs like Humble and claimed Epic free games so have a decent library alongside Game Pass.
I’m probably playing as many Game Pass games as before, tilting more towards on PC than on my Xbox, so I’m probably primed more than most console players for Xbox’s pivot.
Honestly, while next gen was a no-brainer for me if it was a combined PC / Xbox hybrid, now it’ll depend if I can get the same functionality on my PC with a few tweaks / upgrades or not whether I jump in.
Naturally, being comfortable upgrading components myself and having spent quite a bit on it recently, I’m not going to be too desperate to jump into either a more restricted hybrid or harder to upgrade one (for example it using an APU rather than separate GPU and CPU unless there’s a huge performance benefit).
It’s definitely the right way for Xbox to go I suspect, and a year ago I’d have been there Day 1, now I’m not sure as having spent so much I’m feeling unless I see massive benefits from the new gen I’ll be out (i.e. much better performance than a similarly priced PC and my current one, or only way to get the backwards compatibility - although I’d be tempted to keep my Series X for that as everything recent is on PC anyway).
EDIT; Should point out even if I didn’t get the next gen hybrid (at least initially) I’d still be gaming on Xbox / Xbox PC app and have Game Pass - I will not be leaving the ecosystem ever lol, and definitely not getting a PlayStation (if they do ever produce something I want to play again, I’d wait for PC)
My sub expires next March, so I took a bit of time to see how much it’ll now cost me with these changes, and it comes to €157,26 using 3x 12 month Game Pass Core and 1 month of Game Pass Ultimate. The new conversion rate means it now gets me under 15 months of Ultimate. Obviously, not as good as before, but that’s still fine if they keep delivering years like the current one.
Before it was a no-brainer, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on what they bring to the service more keenly.