Because raising prices for its console wasn’t enough, Xbox is also raising the price of its Xbox Game Pass subscription by a whopping 50 percent. The service, which gives people access to a large library of games for a monthly fee, has long been considered one of the best deals in gaming, especially for people who don’t want to buy dozens of games a year. You could theoretically just subscribe to Game Pass and have something new to play every month as games rotate in and out of its catalog. Well, today Microsoft announced it would be raising the price for the Ultimate tier from $20 to $30 a month.
Along with the hefty price increase, the Ultimate tier is getting a lot of new games and perks, including the Ubisoft+ catalog and a Fortnite crew membership that gives you battle pass access and in-game currency every month. The other tiers are also going up in price, and will now include cloud gaming access and an expanded library. The PC Game Pass package, however, is going up from $12 to $16.50 with no new perks. Xbox frames this as a move toward flexibility and choice, but ultimately, Game Pass’ claim to fame has always been its affordability, and now that its price is going up, the internet has feelings and jokes loaded up.
When I said i wanted the 360 era back, I didn’t mean $360 a year.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 1, 2025
From the people that brought you the $650 five-year-old Xbox Series X and the $1000 handheld gaming PC, comes…
$30 per month for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate! WHO’S EXCITED??? /s
We went from $17 to $30 in 14 months, LOL.https://t.co/wcud6Grgly
— Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) October 1, 2025
https://t.co/AFYM0WtIlF pic.twitter.com/xtvsIz6BWG
— Puertorock77 (@Puertorock77_) September 30, 2025
there’s still no annual subscription for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. That means it’s $360 a year, which is more than the Xbox Series S ($300) when it first launched 🤯
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 1, 2025
The page to cancel Game Pass subscriptions is broken already, incredible https://t.co/qTWLQRWRBs pic.twitter.com/yZjRCMGosk
— Sam (@_sunday_rain_) October 1, 2025
Xbox Game Pass for 30 bucks? Are they insane? These price hikes on game pass, consoles, and games themselves are just pricing people OUT of gaming. No more “I’ll give it a try” because of these prices. Absolutely wild to see how bad it’s become, and prices will never go down.
— Kala Elizabeth (@kalaelizabeth) October 1, 2025
Xbox gamers realising they might actually have to buy games now pic.twitter.com/LqVlzxPpsa
— Yokio (@ItsNewYokio) October 1, 2025
The Xbox brand has gotten a lot more expensive in just the past few weeks, with the company raising the prices of Xbox Series X/S consoles and announcing that the most powerful version of the Rog Ally X handheld will cost a staggering $1000. If that price wasn’t high enough, scalpers are already trying to sell the thing for twice as much, despite the handheld being readily available elsewhere.