„End of Xbox Game Pass.” Players are reportedly canceling their subscriptions in such large numbers that they have overloaded Microsoft's website

The day after people found out about the big price hikes for Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, the internet was flooded with comments from players and industry representatives, mostly criticizing Microsoft.

Discussions about the effectiveness of XGP (and its PC counterpart) from a business perspective have never reached a definitive conclusion. Nevertheless, players were pretty much on the same page – they think it's a great deal because it lets them play not just older games but also new releases right when they come out. Just this year, subscribers could immediately check out titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Oblivion Remastered, and Doom: The Dark Ages.

New Xbox Game Pass in a nutshell

In this context, it's hardly surprising that players are frustrated (to put it mildly) with the announced price increases.

To recap: two of the three Game Pass variants have been renamed to Essential (formerly Core) and Premium (previously Standard). Also, starting yesterday, the first one and the priciest Ultimate subscription are way more expensive than before. The price of XGPU has increased in particular – its price has increased from $19.99 to $29.99.

There are also other changes, including the "enhancement" of the Ultimate subscription and a sort of merging of PC and Xbox Game Pass in all variants. It will still be possible to purchase a PC-only subscription, paying extra.

(Un)profitable subscription

Here and there, you can find comments where players point out the justification for the price increases. Ultimate is way pricier, but it also includes two subscriptions that would cost a lot more if you bought them separately.

The issue is that the offer of "classic" Ubisoft games and the Fortnite Crew apparently aren't additions that interest many existing subscribers. In many posts, they make it clear: "They won't pay that much" for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

However, this means giving up immediate access to many titles. For instance, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is also dropping on Xbox Game Pass on launch day... but only if you've got the Ultimate subscription. No one will actually spend 30 bucks a month just to play the new CoD.

Sure, you could point out that even the cheapest XGP plan includes over 50 games, and the Ultimate version offers a bundle with more than 400 titles.

However, players emphasize that many of them don't even check out half of these collections. Many of them used Game Pass to try out new releases. Meanwhile, now, after 2-3 months, they will pay almost the same amount for Ultimate as for an average AAA title.

There's no point in even mentioning the indie games. Silksong undoubtedly attracted a lot of people to XGP Ultimate when the monthly subscription was slightly cheaper than the game itself. Not many people stick to playing just one game for a whole month, so with a cheaper subscription, you could finish the whole HKS and still have time to try out at least one more game. It's a different story when they have to pay an additional 10 dollars for XGPU.

That's why some existing subscribers believe that it may now be more profitable for them to simply buy the games they are interested in rather than spending a small fortune on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

End of Game Pass?

It's probably no surprise that Microsoft didn't earn the respect of players with this decision. There is no shortage of posts criticizing the decision of the Remond giant.

Of course, as usual, you might wonder if this is just another shout from the "loud minority" that will soon be proven wrong by reports of Game Pass hitting record numbers (just like what often happens with microtransactions).

However, the overload of the page for canceling XGP subscriptions might indicate that many subscribers have indeed decided to give up on Game Pass (via Wario64). Although journalist Tom Warren claims that the page always works like that. Moreover, phrases related to the cancellation of XGP seem to be trending online.

Funnily enough, the GameStop store announced that it will continue to sell Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cards at the current price. They're probably just doing it temporarily until they run out of their current stock. The internet didn't hesitate to advertise its services in a "mathematical" way.

What particularly irritates some players is that initially, the basic Xbox Game Pass cost only $1. We knew it was just a temporary deal, and honestly, it didn't even cover everything that XGPU offered, even before they "upgraded" that subscription option yesterday. It's no surprise that the jump in subscription prices from "a dollar" to "30 bucks" over a few years (with several hikes) really hit existing users hard.

Some people are already predicting the end of Game Pass, while others foresee that PlayStation Plus subscribers will soon face the same fate. These are just speculations, but there's no doubt that Microsoft has greatly irritated players with its decision. It's not the first time this year.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

April 24, 2025

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