Should you cancel Xbox Game Pass? Everything you need to know about the price hike and new features

Like that or I hate it, we live in a subscription economy. Music, movies, meal boxes and more are no longer things you buy all at once. They are a constant drag on your wallet. Games are No exceptionAnd while every major player in the sector has some form of sub-support for gamers — from PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online for consoles to Apple Arcade on phones — none of them offer as much for a modest monthly fee as Xbox Game Pass.

Depending on the subscription tier, the service gave players access to a large library of titles and was available on Xbox consoles, PC, or via cloud gaming. While most of its competitors focused on back catalog titles for their game subscriptions, Game Pass set itself apart by including major first-party titles on the day of their release for subscribers in the final tier.

Microsoft has long claimed it’s the “best deal in gaming,” and with new releases costing upwards of $70 per title versus the $19.99 monthly price on Game Pass Ultimate, it’s been hard to argue. However, recent changes to the service – including some significant price hikes – have greatly inconvenienced users, prompting so many people to be so quick to cancel their subscriptions that… Membership site crashed.

What happened?

On October 1, Microsoft revamped the system The full structure of Game Pass. Previously, and after the previous reorganization September 2024players had four basic options — Game Pass for PC, Game Pass Core, Game Pass Standard, and Game Pass Ultimate. From now on, Core will be replaced by Essential, Standard will be replaced by Premium, while Ultimate will keep its name. All levels can now be accessed on PC, although a PC-only plan remains available.

It’s not the rebranding that has people canceling, but rather the spike in prices that came with the higher tiers. While Essential keeps the Core price at roughly $9.99 per month, Premium jumps to $14.99 from $11.99 (a 25 percent increase), and the PC-only offering rises from $11.99 to $16.49 (a 38 percent increase). Game Pass Ultimate has proven to be the most controversial, jumping from $19.99 to $29.99. Price increases for subscription services routinely boil the frog and prices slowly rise — just look at what you’ve been paying for Netflix — but the massive 50 percent rise overnight, equivalent to an extra $120 a year, surprised many.

What doesn’t help is that it comes after two price hikes on the same Xbox consoles in the span of less than a year, at least in the US. In May 2025, the price of the 512GB Xbox Series S rose from $299.99 to $379.99, the 1TB Xbox Series These prices rose globally, with prices reversing in each region. But then, in September, prices rose again for buyers in America, bringing those same models to $399.99, $649.99, and $799.99, respectively. Microsoft noted that the increases were “due to changes in the macroeconomic environment” – read: Definitions— but the combined impact on pricing across the entire Xbox ecosystem really challenges the idea of ​​the “best deal in gaming.”