Everything You Need to Know About the Game Pass Changes

Xbox Game Pass has been playing the role of the ultimate Netflix-styled gaming subscription service that has been keeping players hooked for a long time now. This has become one of the most exciting gaming innovations from the people at Microsoft. Subscribers can gain access to a wide range of games through the game pass by paying a specific monthly amount.

It features a variety of games such as Bethesda’s Starfield, Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5, and a lot more. Over the years, Microsoft has been updating and making changes to the game pass. The most recent change was when the company rebranded Xbox Live Gold to Xbox Game Pass Core.

They have increased the prices by a small amount over the years. However, the recent update has confused and upset a lot of subscribers. This is due to the introduction of a brand-new tier and the considerable price increase. Here’s a full extent of their changes to the Game Pass. We’ll also see how the players are reacting to the news shared on Xbox Support!

New Xbox Game Pass Standard Tier Details

On top of the price hike, no one was ready for Microsoft to launch an entirely new tier. So, this surely is a welcome change. The company also announced that “some games” featured on Game Pass Ultimate upon release “may be” featured in the latest tier subscription sometime later.

Following are all the new Xbox Game Pass Standard tier details:

The latest Xbox Game Pass tier is known as “Standard”. It allows players to download hundreds of games on their console. Moreover, it also comes with online multiplayer support and gives subscribers access to member deals and discounts. Unfortunately, Microsoft announced that this game pass plan won’t feature day-one release or cloud streaming support.

So, if you were planning on playing upcoming releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on the day of the game’s launch on Xbox Game Pass Standard, then we hate to break it to you that players won’t be able to do so. The subscribers of this tier also won’t get access to the recently released titles. This, along with a couple of extra games that are only available to Ultimate subscribers.

Access Date

Players who wish to gain access to more games at launch will have to pay $19.99 per month. This will give them the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier as soon as the price changes are set in motion. This will happen for new members on July 10 and for existing members on September 12. Most of the community is understandably not happy with this.

Standard will arrive before Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is launched on October 24, 2025. The demand for upcoming Call of Duty was likely why these changes were made. Many have even theorized that the Xbox Game Pass might receive a costlier Call of Duty tier later. Therefore, Microsoft has decided to make day-one launches exclusive to PC, Ultimate, and Console. They also increased the price of two of these three Game Pass tiers to prepare for this.

Latest Microsoft Changes To Xbox Game Pass Subscription

Microsoft recently introduced a new tier to their game pass roster (as stated above) and increased overall prices. This update introduced changes that might greatly impact players’ gaming experience. So, it’s up to you to choose the tier you wish to play with!

The introduction of the “Standard” Game Pass tier is a major change that took the internet by storm. This, along with the increase in prices. While many already predicted and were prepared for this move, they weren’t ready for such an increase. Nearly 34 million subscribers from all over the world will be affected.

Prices

Game Pass’s console tier getting discontinued for new subscribers has also received some backlash. Here’s a list of all changes to Game Pass, as well as the prices of the various game pass tiers:

It’s important to note that these changes immediately apply to new subscribers. On the other hand, the already existing members who have already paid recurring fees will notice their bills changing from September 2024. Xbox players who hold a basic subscription on their console at the time of writing will be allowed to keep it until its time is up and it expires eventually.

Updates

With these price changes, Microsoft has beaten Sony’s PlayStation as the most expensive Game Pass price is much costlier than its Plus Premium, which is  £13.49 per month in the United Kingdom. Many analysts claim that these changes were made in order to completely rattle the gaming industry. It is being taken over by the sales of physical games.

It seems like the latest price hike and Microsoft’s attempts to push console players toward a more expensive tier might just be linked to the company’s decision to launch the most recent Call of Duty game immediately on Xbox Game Pass. If you want to keep your focus on existing games and multiplayer, then Xbox Game Pass Standard is the most budget-friendly option.

It’s also important to note that Microsoft will only let existing subscribers stack the Xbox Game Pass for Console for up to 13 months with the help of pre-paid cards and such. This will continue to function in perpetuity. However, if a player already has more than 13 months stacked, then this won’t be much of an issue for them. Sounds confusing, doesn’t it?

On top of this, if a player cancels the outgoing Xbox Game Pass for Console, they’ll also end up losing their entitlement to day-one games permanently. After this, they’ll have to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in order to get that privilege back once again. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is currently the most popular one out of all the Xbox Game Pass tiers.

Xbox Game Pass Core

Fortunately for Xbox Game Pass Core subscribers, this tier will mostly remain unchanged. If you are a huge Core player and pay the amount per month, then your $9.99 monthly fee will not change even a bit. However, if you pay for Xbox Game Pass Core annually, you will notice their $59.99 yearly fee increase to $74.99. This is still significantly less than what monthly subscribers are paying each year, but it’s still a pretty considerable price hike. But, if you can, you should stick to the Core Pass since everything else about it is the same.

PC Game Pass Subscription Cost Changes 2024

The PC Game Pass Subscription cost changes have taken place, which is quite unfortunate for the players. The only upside to this is that the players who exclusively play Game Pass via PC will continue getting day-one game titles and access to the back catalog of titles they currently have in their inventory. If you’re willing to pay a whopping $11.99 per month instead of the old $9.99, then you can easily get your hands on these privileges as a PC Game Pass subscriber.

Impact Of New Restrictions On Xbox Game Pass

Most analysts have already identified the reason behind Microsoft taking such drastic changes. They claim that Microsoft is facing a lot of difficulties in growing their Game Pass as they wish. They are trying their best to achieve old ambitions of getting metrics like 100 million subscribers. At this point, this goal just seems impossible and completely out of their reach.

This is mainly because the console subscribers are saturated, PCs are limited in reach, and cloud Game Pass appeals only to existing Xbox users rather than attracting new players. So, in order to tackle these issues, the company has raised the price in an attempt to get the most money out of already existing subscribers, but players aren’t ready to pay $240 a year.

Game Pass Standard Tier

In addition to this, the Standard Tier has been introduced either to hold on to the cost-conscious subscribers at the cost of Day One launches, which has been the major selling point of Game Pass for a long time now, or to simply push the subscribers into Ultimate, which is the company’s main goal at the end of the day. This is done merely to up their sales.

The primary idea of these Passes was always to subscribe to them and gain access to all Xbox Games. Moreover, it has always stayed two steps ahead of its competition, i.e., PlayStation Plus, since it never offered such a deal. However, there are two different Game Pass tiers now that don’t feature day-one releases, confusing everyone.

While it’s a fact that PS Plus has its own annoying price hikes, the company has never really gambled its future on PS Plus similar to the way in which Xbox has done with Game Pass so far. It’s clear now that Microsoft can never reach Netflix, which was actually the company’s original intention. Many players consider this move a bad one from Microsoft.

Final Thoughts

That’s everything about the latest price hikes and the introduction of a brand-new Xbox tier. Many subscribers have left negative reactions to this update. It was predicted that this would be how subscribers would receive this news, as no one is ever happy about the price increase, especially regarding their beloved gaming consoles.

Xbox might lose many of its subscriptions in its latest attempt to get more subscribers, which is quite ironic. However, the upcoming much-anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 might keep many in their subscriptions for the time being. If you’re looking to get your hands on the game but don’t want to invest in the expensive Game Pass tiers, you can check out Electronic First and see if there’s a sale on the game.

The only hope now is that Xbox doesn’t decline its quality and keeps adding more new and exciting games to its vast library. Happy gaming to you!