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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Is Getting An Overhaul And A 50 Percent Price Increase
Game Updates

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Is Getting An Overhaul And A 50 Percent Price Increase

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After a few years in a console’s life cycle, its common to see dips in price for its older games and hardware, but in 2025, the opposite has been true. The latest culprit of the rising cost of gaming is Xbox Game Pass, which we learned today would be getting new features, but a massive increase in monthly fees. Ultimate, the highest tier of the service, will cost 50 percent more, going from $19.99 a month to $29.99 a month. A breakdown of the new tiers is included below.

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Game Pass Essential (formerly Core)- $9.99 a month

  • 50+ games now playable on PC, console, and cloud
  • Unlimited Cloud Gaming
  • In-game benefits, including for Riot Games
  • Online console multiplayer
  • Play and earn up to $25 a year in the Store with Rewards

Game Pass Premium (formerly Standard) – $14.99 a month

  • 200+ games now playable on PC, console, and cloud
  • New Xbox-published games within a year of launch
  • Unlimited cloud gaming with shorter wait times
  • In-game benefits, including for Riot Games
  • Online console multiplayer
  • Play and earn up to $50 a year in the Store with Rewards

Game Pass Ultimate – $29.99 a month

  • 400+ games now playable on PC, console, and cloud
  • 75+ day one games a year, including all Xbox-published games day one
  • Ubisoft+ Classics and EA Play included, with Fortnite Crew coming in November
  • Unlimited cloud gaming at our best quality, with the shortest wait times
  • In-game benefits, including for Riot Games
  • Online console multiplayer
  • Play and earn up to $100 a year in the Store with Rewards

Xbox justifies the increase with a new lineup of upgrades. An Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription now includes Ubisoft+ Classics (a $7/month fee that includes access to select Ubisoft games) and Fortnite Crew (which offers monthly skins and V-Bucks), along with an upgraded version of Xbox’s cloud gaming service. It also retains its previous benefits, including day 1 releases, a library of 400 games, EA Play, and online gaming.

Lower tiers, however, are relatively unchanged, save for their names: Game Pass Standard is now Game Pass Premium, but remains $14.99 a month, while Game Pass Core, now Game Pass Essential, is still $9.99. New games also come to each service today; you can read that full list here.

Just last year, Game Pass Ultimate increased in price from $16.99 to its current $19.99, and that change was signaled two months in advance – these latest changes go into effect today. This also comes following last week’s news that Xbox’s ROG Ally handhelds will be $599.99 and $999.99, and two weeks after we learned Xbox consoles are getting their second price increase this year.



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Starbreeze admits it "dropped the ball" over stealth price increase to DLC bundle
Esports

Starbreeze admits it “dropped the ball” over stealth price increase to DLC bundle

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Starbreeze has admitted it “dropped the ball” after introducing a premium DLC subscription service for Payday 2 at the same time as increasing the price of its DLC bundle Infamous Collection without warning.

The company launched a subscription service for Payday 2 on Steam as part of the franchise’s 12th anniversary celebrations yesterday (September 24). The service offers players access to all the game’s available download content for $4.99 a month (with monthly renewal) or $19.99 for six months, with the option to cancel anytime.

What wasn’t part of the announcement, however, was a 50% hike to the DLC bundle, taking it from $100 to $150, resulting in a vocal backlash from the heist shooter’s long-time community.

In a statement to GameDeveloper, head of commercial Gustav Misser said: “We dropped the ball on coordinating internally and communicating with our community properly.

“The negative reaction makes complete sense, and the community has made it clear how the price change and its timing looks from the outside. We agree with the community, we messed up on this one, and we have reverted the price on the bundle effective immediately.

“In hindsight we should have realized how it would seem,” he added. “Since the bundle only charges for the items you don’t own, and the bundle discount is cumulative with any other discounts (i.e. discounts on the included items), the actual full price of the bundle can vary significantly.”



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Trump’s Tylenol Directive Could Actually Increase Autism Rates, Researchers Warn
Gaming Gear

Trump’s Tylenol Directive Could Actually Increase Autism Rates, Researchers Warn

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For decades, the discussion around autism has been a hotbed of misinformation, misinterpretation, and bad science, ranging from the long-discredited link between the neurodevelopmental condition and vaccines, to newer claims that going gluten-free and avoiding ultra-processed foods can reverse autistic traits.

On Monday night, this specter arose again in the Oval Office, as President Donald Trump announced his administration’s new push to study the causes of autism with claims that the common painkiller Tylenol, otherwise known as acetaminophen, can cause the condition. The FDA subsequently announced that the drug would be slapped with a warning label citing a “possible association.”

David Amaral, professor and director of research at the UC Davis MIND Institute, was among those watching in dismay as the president launched into a diatribe about Tylenol, repeatedly warning pregnant women not to take it, even to treat fevers.

“We heard the president say that women should tough it out,” says Amaral. “I was really taken aback by that, because we do know that prolonged fever, in particular, is a risk factor for autism. So I worry that this admonition to not take Tylenol is going to do the reverse of what they’re hoping.”

The speculation surrounding Tylenol stems from correlations drawn by some studies that have touted an association between use of the painkiller and neurodevelopmental disorders. One such analysis was published last month. The problem, says Renee Gardner, an epidemiologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, is that these studies often reach this conclusion because they don’t sufficiently account for what statisticians describe as “confounding factors”—additional variables related to those being studied that might influence the relationship between them.

In particular, Gardner points out that pregnant women needing to take Tylenol are more likely to have pain, fevers, and prenatal infections, which are themselves risk factors for autism. More importantly, given the heritability of autism, many of the genetic variants that make women more likely to have impaired immunity and greater pain perception, and hence use painkillers like acetaminophen, are also linked to autism. The painkiller use, she says, is a red herring.

Last year, Gardner and other scientists published what is widely regarded within the scientific field as the most conclusive investigation so far on the subject, one that did account for confounding factors. Using health records from nearly 2.5 million children in Sweden, they reached the opposite conclusion to the president: Tylenol has no link to autism. Another major study of more than 200,000 children in Japan, published earlier this month, also found no link.

Doctors are worried that Trump’s claims will have adverse consequences. Michael Absoud, a pediatric neurodisability consultant and a researcher in pediatric neurosciences at King’s College London, says he fears that pregnant women will start using other painkillers with a less well-proven safety profile.

Gardner is concerned that it will also lead to self-blaming among parents, a flashback to the 1950s and ’60s, a time when autism was wrongly attributed to emotionally cold “refrigerator mothers.” “It’s making parents of children with neurodevelopmental conditions feel responsible,” she says. “It harks back to the early dark days of psychiatry.”



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U.S. Xbox fans hit with another hardware price hike just four months after the last increase
Game Reviews

U.S. Xbox fans hit with another hardware price hike just four months after the last increase

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Xbox consoles are about to become more expensive in the United States. Again.

The hike comes just months after Microsoft raised prices of its products in May, when the Xbox Series S and X increased by between $80 and $130, depending on the spec. While May’s cost hike was felt across the world, this time the increase is limited to the U.S., with Microsoft confirming: “Pricing in countries outside the U.S. remains the same”.

The prices for controllers, headsets, and products “in all other markets” also remain as they were.

Xbox + AMD: Powering the Next Generation of Xbox.Watch on YouTube

Here’s how the price changes impact the Xbox console range in the U.S. when they go live on 3rd October:

  • Xbox Series S 512: $399.99 (up $20 from $379.99)
  • Xbox Series S 1TB: $449.99 (up $20 from $429.99)
  • Xbox Series X Digital: $599.99 (up $50 from $549.99)
  • Xbox Series X: $649.99 (up $50 from $599.99)
  • Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition: $799.99 (up $70 from $729.99)

“Beginning on 3rd October, we will update the recommended retailer pricing for Series S and Series X consoles in the United States due to changes in the macroeconomic environment,” Microsoft explained.

“We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration. Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and providing value for Xbox players.”

Microsoft did not justify the price rise, but it’s possible the current U.S. administration’s import tariffs have had some bearing. That said, the company reported an 18 percent boost in profits at its last earnings call, and a 13 percent increase across its Xbox business.

If recent reports are true, we likely won’t be seeing Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console until 2027 at the earliest. But that hasn’t stopped the company from teasing a couple of details as it announced a partnership with AMD to co-engineer the hardware.



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Xbox Console Prices Will Increase Again Next Month
Game Updates

Xbox Console Prices Will Increase Again Next Month

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Microsoft has announced plans to increase the prices of its Xbox consoles in the United States for the second time this year, starting on October 5. The company cites “changes in the macroeconomic environment” as the reason for the price adjustments. 

In a time when consoles are becoming more expensive over time rather than cheaper, the five available models of Xbox Series X/S will have their prices raised yet again. Microsoft already increased these prices only a few months ago, on May 1.

Here are the new prices for each Xbox console. For comparison, we’ve also included the current price (as of May 1) and the original launch price of each piece of hardware.

Xbox Series S 512 GB 
New Price: $399.99
Current Price: $379.99 
Launch Price: $299.99

Xbox Series S 1TB 
New Price: $449.99
Current Price: $429.99
Launch Price: 349.99

Xbox Series X Digital 
New Price: $599.99
Current Price: $549.99
Launch Prince: $449.99

Xbox Series X
New Price: $649.99
Current Price: $599.99
Launch Price: $499.99

Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition
New Price: $799.99
Current Price: $729.99
Launch Price: $599.99

“We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration,” reads Microsoft’s statement. “Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and providing value for Xbox players.”

This second price hike comes in a year full of them. Sony raised the prices of the PlayStation 5 in the UK, Europe, and other territories in April, similarly citing the current economic conditions caused by the US tariffs. Sony then raised the price of the PS5 in the US last month. 

Nintendo, perhaps most famously, delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the US due to the economic conditions before raising prices on the console’s accessories before launch. Last month, Nintendo increased the prices of the original Switch models. 

The updated Xbox prices come right before the busy holiday season, which will be more challenging than ever for those looking to purchase game consoles as gifts or for themselves. It’s an unfortunate circumstance that, as things currently stand, doesn’t appear will be going away in the foreseeable future. 



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TradFi to increase Bitcoin allocations this year as Bitcoin Hyper surges
NFT Gaming

TradFi Will Increase Bitcoin Allocations This Year, as Bitcoin Hyper Surges

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Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

TradFi is likely to ramp up Bitcoin allocations by the end of the year, says Wall Street vet Jordi Visser.

The statement came during an interview with Anthony Pompiliano, where Visser declared:

Between now and the end of the year, the allocations for Bitcoin for next year, from the traditional finance world, are going to increase. That is going to happen.

—Jordi Visser, Official Youtube Interview

Immediately after the statement, Pompiliano agreed with Visser, stating that ‘all the bears are wrong and they’re going to cry.’

However, Visser recognized that Bitcoin is stalling right now because of the low investor activity and the stagnation in the market as a whole. For Bitcoin to ramp up, it takes increased interest from investors, which Visser thinks it’s coming.

Bitcoin Hyper’s ($HYPER) $15.6M presale will also contribute to Bitcoin’s marathon up the charts, as it promises to give us faster and cheaper Bitcoin transactions.

Q4 Will Mark Bitcoin’s Rebirth

Bitcoin has been stagnating in the $100K-$123K range since last December, with a few occasional dips below $80K. This is likely to change this coming Q4, with Bitcoin seeing increased investor interest and institutional and retail adoption.

Strategy is leading the pack with 638,460 $BTC, valued at over $74B, but it’s not the only one with a growing treasury. According to Bitcoin Treasuries data, public companies hold 1,010,738 $BTC, almost a third of all holdings, currently at 3.71M Bitcoins.

But it’s Strategy that delivers the most impactful punch with the largest Bitcoin reserve in the world by a large margin. By comparison, second place goes to MARA Holdings, with 52,477 $BTC, less than 10% of Strategy’s treasury.

Michael Saylor, Strategy’s co-founder and chair executive, posted yesterday a short but punchy X post with the words ‘Bitcoin is more interesting than the Magnificent 7.’

He then followed it up with another tweet, where he highlighted Strategy’s return compared to the assets under the Mag 7 umbrella and, at 91%, MSTR is the clear winner.

This explains why so many corporations and institutions try to replicate Strategy’s success and it puts Bitcoin’s long-term performance into perspective.

An even more interesting perspective comes through Bitcoin Hyper’s lens, the Layer 2 upgrade that promises to give us a faster and cheaper Bitcoin starting 2026 and onward.

Why Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) Promises Faster and Cheaper Bitcoin Transactions

Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) tackles one of Bitcoin’s most pressing issues: its native performance limitation. The Bitcoin network is capped at 7 transactions per second (TPS), which causes it to lag behind so many modern ecosystems.

For a clearer perspective, Bitcoin ranks 24th on the list of the fastest blockchains by TPS, Ethereum is 20th with 15 TPS, while Solana is third with almost 900 TPS and a 65,000 theoretical one.

A change is necessary and Hyper is that change.

Bitcoin Hyper relies on several tools to address this problem, with the Canonical Bridge and the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) being among the most impactful.

The Canonical Bridge mints the users’ Bitcoins into Hyper’s Layer 2 after the Bitcoin Relay Program verifies and confirms incoming transactions.

Users can either use the wrapped Bitcoins on the Hyper layer or withdraw them to Bitcoin’s native network at will.

Together with the Bitcoin Relay Program, the Canonical Bridge achieves several things: near-instant finality, higher scalability, no more network congestion.

Because transactions essentially take place on the ultra-fast Hyper layer, the fee-based priority system, which forced smaller transactions at the end of the line, is also gone. No more waiting for hours for your transaction to go through.

The Solana Virtual Machine complements this system by enabling the lightning-fast execution of smart contracts and DeFi apps, further pushing Bitcoin’s performance to higher standards.

The $HYPER presale is now at over $15.6M, which already makes it one of the most successful presales of 2025.

If you want to invest, now’s the time, given that Bitcoin is about to enter Q4, when it’ll likely experience increased investor activity. $BTC is already testing its $116K price point.

$HYPER is now at $0.012915, but we expect it to hit the markets hard post launch, especially since Hyper aims at a Q4 public listing.

Based on the project’s utility and whitepaper, our price prediction for $HYPER is $0.32 by the end of the year and $1.50 by 2030, with sufficient community support and successful implementation.

So, read our guide on how to buy $HYPER and go to the presale page to secure your spot in the $HYPER train.

This isn’t financial advice. Do your own research (DYOR) and invest wisely.

Authored by Bogdan Patru, Bitcoinist – https://bitcoinist.com/tradfi-to-increase-bitcoin-allocations-this-year-as-bitcoin-hyper-surges

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.



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Deadlock
Esports

Deadlock’s latest update revives the game with massive player count increase

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After the initial player count boom that came with Deadlock Alpha access, the player count has steadily fallen. And, sure, it’s not publicly available yet, but the player count going from close to 200k at “launch” to around 10k before the latest update isn’t exactly ideal.

Deadlock has maintained a small yet loyal following through its lengthy Alpha. If you consider 10-15k players small, anyways. There’s pretty much never been a point where queues aren’t popping, and there are some people really grinding to learn ahead of the eventual release.

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However, the average player moved on. Updates take months at this point, with the dev team generally shifting away from rapid changes to work on more substantial updates.

And, around 3 months after the last big update, the team really delivered. Between releasing 6 new heroes in the span of less than 2 weeks, new music, a UI overhaul, and, for those who haven’t played since last year, a completely new map. There’s a lot to love here, and players are Deadlocked in.

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Deadlock earns players back with massive update

So, why are so many people returning to Deadlock all at once if the previous updates didn’t win them over?

At the time of writing, only three of the six revealed characters have been released. But that’s a key part of why player retention has been so high: Players get to vote for the next character they want, but they have to play matches in order to earn votes.

However, this wouldn’t mean anything if the game wasn’t fun. Fortunately, the new roster of heroes has players more engaged than ever.

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The proposition of fun and exciting new characters combined with the ability to earn your way toward deciding who’s next seems to be a winning formula for player retention, but that’s not all. The UI, menus, music, and many of the character designs have had some massive quality of life improvements, especially if you’re someone who hasn’t played since last year.

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Between the new map, an easier to access item system, 3 lanes instead of 4, and a whole lot of quality of life changes, it’s no surprise that players are hopping in and sticking around.

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DeadlockThe Doorman is the newest Deadlock character at the time of writing, and he’s probably the closest thing we’re ever going to get to Portal 3.

Deadlock went from 14k peak players to around 28k in the day after the update, but it’s since catapulted all the way to 47k. This is the biggest peak Deadlock has had in months, and there are no signs of that momentum stopping.

While the game is nowhere close to a full release yet, Valve is putting their full force into making their vision for Deadlock a reality.



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PS5 prices increase from tomorrow in the U.S. as Sony "navigates a challenging economic environment"
Esports

PS5 prices increase from tomorrow in the U.S. as Sony “navigates a challenging economic environment”

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Sony is increasing the price of the PlayStation 5 in the U.S. as of tomorrow, August 21.

In a brief statement posted to the PlayStation Blog during Gamescom, the megacorp said that from tomorrow, the updated recommended retail price for all variations of the PS5 — base, digital edition, and PS5 Pro — will increase to:

  • PlayStation 5 – $549.99
  • PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – $499.99
  • PlayStation 5 Pro – $749.99

Previously, the PS5 retailed for $499.99, the digital edition $449.99, and the PS5 Pro for $699.99.

“Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price for PlayStation 5 consoles in the U.S. starting on August 21.”

Accessory prices remain unchanged, and Sony confirmed it had “no other price changes to announce for additional markets.”

We recently learned that Forza Horizon 5’s PS5 port has surpassed three million copies sold, making it the top new PS5 game of 2025 thus far.



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Donald Trump 1
Crypto Trends

TRUMP Meme Coin Set For A Revival? Analyst Forecasts 700% Increase To $78

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Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

The TRUMP meme coin has been on a downtrend after being launched back in January 17, 2025, kicking off a market-wide breakdown in its wake. The continuous decline has also led to major losses for investors, with over 760,000 investors reported to have lost over $1 billion. Naturally, this has triggered a lack of trust in the meme coin. However, as it trends toward a possible bottom, there is the possibility that the TRUMP meme coin could stage another rally.

TRUMP Meme Coin Nearing The Timeline For Another Surge

In an analysis, crypto analyst Master Ananda pointed out that the TRUMP meme coin could benefit from an established trend among altcoins that have often pointed to a recovery. This trend comes after an altcoin has suffered a wave of decline and finally puts in a bottom. Once this is done, then there is nowhere but up for the meme count to go, which could benefit the TRUMP token.

Counting back the days, the analyst explains that the TRUMPUSDT had hit a bottom back in April. From there, it has been over 131 days since the bottom. For altcoins, there is usually an 8-10 months average between hitting a bottom and producing a strong bullish wave. With its current count, the TRUMP meme coin has already completed 4 months and counting, meaning that it is getting close to a possible reversal.

Expanding on the 8-10 month timeframe, Master Ananda pointed out that the wave is not instant and that there is usually a 2-month buildup toward the recovery. But once it begins, it is possible for the bullish wave to last between 1-3 months before hitting a peak. This brings it to around five months of total price action before it’s completed.

Source: TradingView

Therefore, with the TRUMP meme coin already seeing four months of sideways movement, it suggests that it could be heading into the 2-month buildup. Taking in the average of nine months, then the next five months could see the meme coin rally as the market picks up.

How High Can Price Go?

Looking at the fact that altcoins can rally by more than 300% during times like these, the crypto analyst expects no less for the TRUMP meme coin. The chart shows that after a possible bottom, the bullish wave could begin and push toward its previous peaks.

The top of the bullish zone is placed at $78, and taking the current price into account, it would mean an over 700% increase in the meme coin’s price. “If you are ready to wait 3 months, it doesn’t matter what is happening short-term; what matters is the long-term results,” the analyst stated.

Price holds $9 support | Source: TRUMPUSDT on TradingView.com

Chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.



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