Xbox Game Pass Ultimate sees a major price hike alongside the Xbox consoles, and gamers are not happy.
Within less than two weeks of raising prices of its Xbox consoles, Microsoft has brought price hikes to the digital realm in the form of a huge Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price hike—and gamers are not happy. Not only have the lower tiers of Xbox Game Pass been renamed to „Essential“ (previously „Core“) and „Premium“ (previously „Standard“), but the existing „Ultimate“ tier has seen a pricing jump from $19.99 to $29.99, after having previously been raised from $16.99.That’s a 50% higher price hike than anything we’ve seen for Microsoft’s consoles, which went up in the U.S. twice in a single year. Some users are observing that now, somehow, tariff pricing is being applied to digital games and services. Even PC Game Pass has seen a price hike to $16.49, up from $11.99, a move that seems profoundly unwise considering Microsoft’s strong competition in PC gaming. It’s also a little unfair considering Essential and Premium pricing stayed the same, though Ultimate does offer some Ubisoft games, just not Ubisoft Classic+ benefits.
This has not been an even remotely popular move, even as the official Xbox releases gleam over the addition of Fortnite Crew, its Battle Pass, and Ubisoft+ Classics being bundled into Game Pass Ultimate, which already included EA Play.
