On Tuesday, Microsoft reversed course on its 50% price hike on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate it instituted just six months ago. Under new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, the company has slashed the price of its top-tier Game Pass subscription from $29.99 to $22.99 per month. Subscribers are losing day-one access to Call of Duty games going forward, but that cost-cutting measure looks like the right move. Xbox tested its most loyal customers’ breaking point, and it appears that $30 a month for Game Pass finally broke them.
Sharma said it herself both internally and publicly: “Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players,” the Xbox CEO posted on her X account. As console and PC component prices creep ever upward, and streaming services push prices up year after year, consumers are feeling squeezed on their discretionary spending. And with console makers fighting to lock in players for life through digital purchases and subscriptions, something has to give.
Fortunately, Microsoft gave. Response from consumers seems to be mostly positive — price drops tend to go over well, if you can believe that.
Consumers have been walloped with staggering price increases over the past year, with the cost of necessities like food, fuel, and home energy costs climbing. U.S. President Donald Trump’s illegal tariffs and war on Iran have caused ripple effects on consumer prices. Massive investments in AI infrastructure have caused computer component prices to spike as electronics manufacturers fight for RAM and storage supply. In the last year alone, the cost of PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles has skyrocketed; over the past year, the Xbox Series X went from $499.99 to $649.99. PlayStation consumers panic-bought PS5 Pro consoles ahead of an announced across-the-board price increase that pushed the top-tier Sony console to $899.99.
