Xbox Game Pass users may be canceling subscriptions in record numbers after latest price hike

[DragonSlayer101]

Ripple effect: Gamers are canceling their Xbox Game Pass subscriptions in record numbers following the price hike announced earlier this week. So many users were attempting to cancel that Microsoft's website reportedly struggled to load at one point, according to posts on social media and online forums.

Several posts on the Xbox subreddit expressed frustration over the rising cost of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. Many users said the latest hike was the final straw and that they would not renew once their current plan expires. Others speculated the increase could trigger a mass exodus from Xbox, potentially impacting Microsoft's bottom line.

Some subscribers also claimed the Microsoft website became overloaded with cancellation requests, causing it to fail to load properly. In addition, a number of users said they were considering downgrading to a lower tier to cut costs, even if it means losing access to premium features.

At the Tokyo Game Show earlier this week, Xbox President Sarah Bond revealed that Game Pass is highly profitable, generating nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year. She noted that the subscription service has long been a profitable business and that increasing participation from third-party publishers could make it even more lucrative for gamers.

Microsoft currently offers four tiers of Game Pass subscriptions. The entry-level Game Pass Essential (formerly Game Pass Core) and Game Pass Standard (previously Game Pass Premium) retain their existing prices of $9.99 and $14.99 per month, respectively.

However, Game Pass Ultimate saw a significant 50 percent increase, rising from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. PC Game Pass also jumped from $11.99 to $16.49, marking nearly a 40 percent hike.

While recent subscriber numbers are not publicly available, filings revealed 34 million subscribers as of February 2024, with leaks from Microsoft insiders suggesting the figure has since surpassed 35 million. CEO Satya Nadella also confirmed that Microsoft's gaming platforms collectively have more than 500 million active users, though he did not provide a detailed breakdown.

Permalink to story:

Xbox Game Pass users may be canceling subscriptions in record numbers after latest price hike

 

[passwordistaco]

I regret that I do not have Game Pass, only because I cannot cancel it.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Well yeah! Who didn't see this coming?

There's not that many good games on Game pass, because there are not that many good games in general right now. Silksong costs less then a month subscription. In the middle of a recession, who would be happy with a 50 percent price increase?

 

[winjer]

I cancelled it last year, after a wave of price increases. But always considered that it might be worth subscribing for a month here and there, just to try new stuff, or some hot new game.
But at these current prices, it's best to buy the game itself. Especially when there are so many key sites with cheap prices.

 

[mbrowne5061]

I cancelled it last year, after a wave of price increases. But always considered that it might be worth subscribing for a month here and there, just to try new stuff, or some hot new game.
But at these current prices, it's best to buy the game itself. Especially when there are so many key sites with cheap prices.

Exactly. At $30, that is just used game territory. Wait a month or two post launch, and go pick up a used version of it. At $20, it at least made some kind of sense to sub to play new games while you were either debating on buying your own copy or if you knew you would just be selling it in a few months once you were bored of it.

This hike a fundamental misunderstanding of the gaming market.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Told my daughter I wasn't supporting the $10 price increase. Right now, after taxes it's $21.66. I'll gladly downgrade to the middle tier and see what it offers for her, I'd be saving about $5.50 a month (or about $65 a year).

My son doesn't really bother to use the Xbox X, he maybe plays around on it for about 30 minutes every 6 months. I don't use the Xbox, so it's strictly the daughter's gaming platform.

If the games she likes to play are no longer on there when I downgrade after my next billing cycle and she doesn't have a need for the sub anymore, I'm dropping it. I have made some use of the sub myself for the PC, but not enough to warrant the price of even $15 a month.

So far this year I dumped Netflix with their last price hike, that's about $250 a year I'm not giving them anymore and maybe soon to be MS Game Pass will be the next to go or at the very least, downgrade in sub and save a little cash that way. I'd be more content with outright dropping it, but the daughter is only around for another year before she graduates and moves out so I can survive if she's okay with the middle tier.

 

[NumberNine]

Well yeah.

 

[Superconductor]

The Ultimate rip off..

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Remember when it was called a steal?

Those days couldn't last because they were spending way more than they were making which is only viable in the short run to grow user count.

Just buy your games on sale. It's much better.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Let your wallet do the talking.
Thats the only way greedy companies like Microsoft would learn.

 

[scavengerspc]

There is a time when being able to afford something is no longer the issue, and the point becomes just feeling like a complete sucker. Here we are.

 

[themastergoose]

Yesterday: "Microsoft says Game Pass is profitable"
Tomorrow: "Microsoft says Game Pass was profitable"

 

[ZackL04]

Well yeah! Who didn't see this coming?

There's not that many good games on Game pass, because there are not that many good games in general right now. Silksong costs less then a month subscription. In the middle of a recession, who would be happy with a 50 percent price increase?

Recession?? Might want to google that

 

[scoffer]

Well, anybody with even half a brain should have seen this coming. Get the peasants (which is what we are mostly seen as) hooked, then proceed to screw them. A la boiled frog...........croak croak.

 

[Axeia]

Yesterday: "Microsoft says Game Pass is profitable"
Tomorrow: "Microsoft says Game Pass was profitable"

Well, there's profitable and there is wooooo! more money.

I try to avoid subscription services as much possible and this one I avoid the most.
Games are bad enough as is atm with all the companies behind my favorite classics releasing slop nowadays (especially you Blizzard and Bioware!).
Losing the ability to vote with your wallet is bad to make the few good ones stand out.

I also mostly play really old games and ive run into the problem on Amazon and Netflix enough where old content randomly dissapears.

Imo buy as much as possible from GoG (good old games) so the power of control status with you.
Subscription services are all the same. Under the guise of convenience they try to take the power away from the consumer and will start charging more and more over time.

 

[toooooot]

Does anyone want to guess why they broke the etiquette and did such a drastic step?

-They lose a lot more money than we thought
-The calculated that the remaining subscribers would cover for those that left
-they thought their service too good even for 50% price increase
-They do not know what they are doing

 

[toooooot]

Yesterday: "Microsoft says Game Pass is profitable"
Tomorrow: "Microsoft says Game Pass was profitable"

It will* be one day. It will be.

 

[Melkor Unlimited]

Does anyone want to guess why they broke the etiquette and did such a drastic step?

-They lose a lot more money than we thought
-The calculated that the remaining subscribers would cover for those that left
-they thought their service too good even for 50% price increase
-They do not know what they are doing

The last.
In combination with one or more above.

 

[Starfals]

Sure, keep making things more expensive and harder to get. Just dont come crying why Piracy is back. Netflix sure knows about this. They keep increasing their prices, and pirated movies keep going up in downloads. Gabe (from Steam/VAlve) was right. You cant keep doing this and expect stuff go to smoothly, not in this horribly overpriced new reality. Gaming and fun is just that. Fun, its not food.

Increasing this much is insane. 2-3.. sure. Its a lot more but still. 10? Are they out of their minds? I would unsubscribe too if I could. The sad part is, yes... now its +10 extra but what about 2026? 7 and 8? You know they will add another 5-10 in the next few years. Ouch, imagine paying 40-50 monthly.. Id rather save up and just buy brand new games if thats the case. Which I do atm, id rather own my games...

 

[Starfals]

Does anyone want to guess why they broke the etiquette and did such a drastic step?

-They lose a lot more money than we thought
-The calculated that the remaining subscribers would cover for those that left
-they thought their service too good even for 50% price increase
-They do not know what they are doing

Probably - We are MS, we can do anything and we are too good etc.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Sure, keep making things more expensive and harder to get. Just dont come crying why Piracy is back. Netflix sure knows about this. They keep increasing their prices, and pirated movies keep going up in downloads. Gabe (from Steam/VAlve) was right. You cant keep doing this and expect stuff go to smoothly, not in this horribly overpriced new reality. Gaming and fun is just that. Fun, its not food.

Increasing this much is insane. 2-3.. sure. Its a lot more but still. 10? Are they out of their minds? I would unsubscribe too if I could. The sad part is, yes... now its +10 extra but what about 2026? 7 and 8? You know they will add another 5-10 in the next few years. Ouch, imagine paying 40-50 monthly.. Id rather save up and just buy brand new games if thats the case. Which I do atm, id rather own my games...

It's not just the increased prices of streaming channels that is bringing folks back to piracy, it's also the fact that so many studios and streaming channels are foregoing the idea of putting content on physical media.

I haven't really been a fan of Disney for a long time, ever since they pretty much butchered Star Wars and then started doing the same to Marvel. However, they do have a product that I enjoy and honestly that is Phineas and Ferb. Sadly they don't sell the complete series on disc. You can find 6 or 8 DVDs of various episodes from Disney for the series and end up with about 1/8th of series on disc, but not a complete series. So, I finally just purchased a copy from a third party for the complete series (not the newest season that just released, but it has everything else) for about $60. I'd have paid twice that if Disney put the series out on disc themselves.

I don't want to pay and I won't pay these streaming services just so I can watch something. I want to have a physical copy of the media so I can do as I wish with it, when I want and not have to continue to pay an entry fee to watch something.

So far most of the third party copies I've purchased of movies/shows that never get brought to disc from the actual studios have worked flawlessly (to be honest, there were a couple that had a few issues) and I'll continue to give my money to a third party if these studios don't want to put their own content on physical media.

 

[MaestroIT]

Why is entertainment (Gaming, TV, and movie subscriptions) getting price hikes at the same time AI is getting more and more injected in the same sector?

 

[FaTaL]

MS is deliberately sabotaging game pass as an excuse just shut down the xbox division all together. I think they're tired of the console wars.

 

[FaTaL]

Why is entertainment (Gaming, TV, and movie subscriptions) getting price hikes at the same time AI is getting more and more injected in the same sector?

Because they're both extremely resource intensive, especially AI... Most of the worlds power grids are extremely obsolete, I'd be willing to bet you'll see a new nuclear power plant getting built in the US in the next 5 to 10.

 

[scavengerspc]

Because they're both extremely resource intensive, especially AI... Most of the worlds power grids are extremely obsolete, I'd be willing to bet you'll see a new nuclear power plant getting built in the US in the next 5 to 10.

Only 6 have been started up since the early 90s, but I know of 3 that are in progress as we speak, but that number goes up some if you count reactors that have received permits.