Xbox Series X & Game Pass Prices Are Going Up And That's All Right

Microsoft is hiking the prices for Xbox Series X and Game Pass, but the real challenge is determining whether this increase is justified.

[Jin_Sakai]

No it’s not. Raising the price of the Series X was a ridiculous move. It’s not selling well and as in 3rd place as usual.

[OptimusDK]

So what is this to you

[lodossrage]

If you're a gamer it's something to everyone.

Why has this not sunk in after all these years with some of you? If one company does something at it succeeds, whether it's pro-consumer or not, others will copy it. Whether or not it's good or bad, if it profits, others will copy it.

I don't see how grown people haven't realized that yet.

It's why when something is bad for the customers, you should fight against it. Because even if it's not your platform of choice, it can at some point come to yours as well.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Rage, I tried telling them that for years that if they do something, it will affect everyone else. But they just don't listen.

Paying for online and they were okay with it while getting nothing in return. Paying for micro transactions and DLC because DVD couldn't fit all the content like Blu-ray could. Being okay with Microsoft's intentions for always online thinking that Microsoft was going to allow them to share games afterwards. Only because they were laughed at by Sony and the PlayStation base, did Microsoft and the base change their minds. But they sometimes look back on it with revisionist history as if it was a good idea.

They're fine with subscriptions and not paying for games or even owning anything physical. Fine with all digital where games get delisted and lost forever but they talked about game preservation. Are fine with Microsoft buying up 3rd parties who make multiplatform games. And act like they're fine with the price hike when we were telling them it was coming right before the new releases showed up like Star Field.

Every time their base is okay with anti consumer practices, it always bleeds over to the rest of the industry when all they have to do is speak up and tell Microsoft "No!"

Trying to get them to listen on how these things will ruin the industry for gamers is like talking to a brick wall.

[lodossrage]

@ApocalypseShadow

Yeah I know, I've seen you try to explain a few times over the years.

Personally, I've all but given up because rationality and common sense gets lost here.

And that paying for online thing is yet ANOTHER reason why that Activision deal needs to die. When MS feels they're in a dominant position, they do things like that. People don't even remember the first year of the 360 was free to play. But the moment Sony stumbled, they changed their online to may it a paywall.

I'm not saying Sony is this saint of a company, but we've seen the industry when Sony is dominant compared to when MS thinks they're dominant.

I'll let people think about that comment any way they wish.

[crazyCoconuts]

I'm happy with it. Sustainable prices make it more clear what the future will hold.
I strongly suspect both XBGP and PS extra/premium are operating at a loss, so let's start showing what reality is before this sub model changes the gaming industry for the worse

[S2Killinit]

I think GP is operating at a loss but MS is making more money becaise people subscribe to it and then realize what “day one” really means, then end up purchasing games on top of the subscription because the games they want aren't on the service and end up paying more for the same amount of gaming.

[ChasterMies]

Yeah but Microsoft knows it has a dedicated 3rd place audience. If you didn’t switch during the last 20 years of Microsoft losing the console war, you won’t switch now.

[FallenAngel1984]

“It doesn’t take much to put your math cap on and calculate how much you can save on gaming with just a Game Pass subscription alone. Add to this the fact that backward compatibility is a thing and you’re looking at a highly consumer-friendly gaming ecosystem. Something that not even Nintendo has on offer and Sony? Not going to happen.

I’m quite confident that PlayStation Plus will never be able to match up to Xbox Game Pass simply because of how Sony chooses to operate.“

Well if you’re going compare PlayStation and Xbox subscription services then lets compare them.

PS Plus Essential: $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
PS Plus Extra: $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly
PS Plus Premium: $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly

XBLG: $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
XGP: $10.99 monthly / $32.97 quarterly/ $131.88 yearly
XGPU: $16.99 monthly / $50.97 quarterly / $203.88 yearly

- In the long term you’re going to be paying far more for Game Pass than u would with PS+.
- There are more than twice the amount of games on PS+ than on Game Pass
- The monthly games given out with XBLG’s GWG have been abysmal in comparison to PS+Es IGC

It’s fine to enjoy Game Pass, but don’t act like PS+ doesn’t compare merely because Sony doesn’t put its games day one on the service when there’s pros and cons with each service

[OptimusDK]

This is huge just Think if Sony would push launch🚀 games. More competition may push Sony to do exactly that

[crazyCoconuts]

Sony can't operate at a loss for long periods of time like MS can

[outsider1624]

Seeing as Sony often changes their stances...you could be right. But as of right now..You're crazy if you think Sony would do that. Why do you think sony is ahead of MS..it's because of their quality games. And why do you think MS is giving away their games, it's because they're in last place. Imagine if there was no gp..

[blacktiger]

Crazycoconut that's why Sony is winning by focusing on games rather than like MS spending at a loss. Another word taking money from another department and spend it on gaming division.

[FallenAngel1984]

Did you forget why Microsoft even adopted day one on Game Pass? A lot of their games don’t sell well, especially in comparison to Nintendo and. Sony.

Sony has no reason to adopt such a system, especially with a lot of nm their games selling bettered now than ever before

How can y’all act like that model is so sustainable when Microsoft themselves discontinued the $1 deal promotion and are raising prices?

Acting like day one releases are the end all be all is ridiculous especially when you consider you’re still paying a lot more for Game Pass than PS+ in the long term. It’d a nice feature but let’s look at the numbers. $100 & $120 vs $192 and $204 adds up as the years go by. If you wait for a sale then you can get PS+ tiers at $75 & $90 which is less than half you would pay for Game Pass. The price difference is so big in the long term that if there’s a game I’d want day one I’d just buy it so I can own it, stay subscribed to PS+ for its larger library and still end up paying less than I would with Game Pass

[ApocalypseShadow]

Angel, they'll just ignore the truth about Microsoft's reason for putting games on game pass and low sales numbers.

They'll also ignore the fact that they have been paying more for less for years. Microsoft's peripherals like the Wi-Fi, HDD, memory cards, etc from 360 days, Xbox Live that gave no games in return for paying until Sony showed up giving away games monthly. XBL being $50 at the time while Sony went 10 years with free online and an improved service overtime on PS3. Paying for XBL to play Free to Play Games until Microsoft got caught trying to raise the price of XBL. Paying for games pass and getting less games than the amount Sony has in their service. Basically paying more and getting less. Series X peripherals that are more than market price to save games because they're proprietary.

It's been that way for years. They never learn.

[The_Hooligan]

@ Apocalypse

Also locking Netflix behind the paywall too.

[outsider1624]

"Did you forget why Microsoft even adopted day one on Game Pass?"

Imo i think it's because they're losing a lot of their fanbase. Can you imagine if there was no GP? This is the first console this gen that launched without any first party exclusives. GP saved them.

[andy85]

And that's without the discounts that Sony offer frequently. Everyone should be buying their yearly on discount day if possible. That 120 drops to below 90

[Immagaiden]

“In the most neutral position, a consumer will not see this price hike as a problem in the slightest.”

I see a problem with this $1 and $2 price hike

Before a year of Xbox Live Gold($60 a year) & Game Pass($10 a month/$120 a year)) would cost $180, the same as XGPU with $14.99 a month totaling up to $180 a year

After the price hike a year of XBLG($60 a year)and GP($11 a month/$132 a year) will cost $192, while XGPU at $16.99 a month totals up to $204 a year

Before Game Pass Ultimate was convenient because you were getting both services under the same price for a year. Especially when you factor in that $1 deal. However now that $1 deal is gone and now it’s actually more expensive to get XGPU than to get them individually

[crazyCoconuts]

It's probably gonna keep going up to account for the expenses associated with their new studios.

[shadowT]

just work harder

[Abear21]

Or play less

[gold_drake]

its just funny to me how this is apparently fine for xbox; when sonys ps plus saw a price change, everyone was up in arms complaining.

so no, this aint ok or fine.

[Knushwood Butt]

'outrageous'

[franwex]

Bro. It’s literally just one article saying that it’s fine. Sorry about us complaining about Sony- I know that hurt you.

[gold_drake]

not your bro, first off, and its called hypocrisy.

and whos us? dont assume things you have no clue about ha

[__SteakDeck__]

I think what’s crazy is MS raising the price of the Series X in countries where they’re not very big in.

[SullysCigar]

They'd honestly have done better to take the financial hit, if it's down to inflation. This could kill them off entirely in the regions they're already weak in.

What makes the timing even worse is the relatively new availability of PS5 in many regions. Anybody already leaning towards getting a PS5 (given the choice between that or an xbox), will now have their choice made easier when the xbox prices goes up.

[Hereandthere]

lol, these shill pieces are cringe. There was a starfield is 30 fps and that's all right article a few days ago.

[Goosejuice]

Does no one remember when xbox was going to almost double the price a few years ago but recieved a ton of backlash for it, and then back tracked and said sorry?
Only reason why they couldn't move forward with that was because of they r in 3rd place in market share. If they were on top that price hike would have happened 100%.

[lodossrage]

People forget things when it suits them.

[PunksOnN4G]

Yeah the price hike before was insane high and they got rid of 6month cards and only had 1month and 12months the cards were printed and everything i worked at wal mart and we had to send every single card back LOL

[on_line_forever]

No it's not

[Hofstaderman]

No it’s not.

[PunksOnN4G]

Just a few Months ago Phil said they have no reason to move up gamepass prices and consoles LOL... right when they start dropping games they want to do it is funny LOL

[Father__Merrin]

Oh it's OK when xbox do it is it lol

[enkiduxiv]

It seems like they would have at least waited for the release of Sfarfield to raise prices. If the game does well, everyone has added incentive to buy the new console. Doing it beforehand just signals a lack of confidence of Microsoft’s part. It looks like they want to capitalize on the hype of Starfield while it’s still high. But I doubt Microsoft execs would even know if Starfield is going to be a hit or not. They aren’t really gamers.

[monkey602]

The first of many I imagine

[S2Killinit]

Hahaha “that’s alright”

Thank you for letting me know that it is ok.

[shinoff2183]

Ms went full on with the media blitz damnnnnn

[Phoenix76]

When exputer did an article on the PS5 price increase, they left it down to Sony CEO to defend it. https://exputer.com/news/ga...
Article title comes across as bias as its saying its OK that MS do it, but Sony...... oh that's a BIG no no.

[jznrpg]

Anything Xbox does is ok with their fans. No games for 10 years great!

They will raise it small increments more frequently instead of one biy chunk and it will be all ok because defender of Xbox will die on the hill for them.

[ChasterMies]

Microsoft has been taking a loss on Game Pass for a long time. Day one exclusives like Outriders aren’t cheap. But I think the price increase is a mistake. Bandwidth and storage only get cheaper with time. Processing power for for XCloud servers only gets cheaper. I feel this way about price increases on all of these streaming services. The service will max out the number of users and then the only way toward profit is higher prices.

[ShwaaMan]

Jesus, please tell me other people notice when MS PR team is working overtime? It’s so bloody obvious and over the top

[jznrpg]

20-25$ is most likely their current price target but they will do it slowly until they feel like they got enough people sucked in and then bam bigger price hikes. Of course they will raise it as high as they possibly think they can over time but they need to feel like they have power over their customers before they stick it to them hard

[DOMination-]

It's weird that people are worried about MS losing money on this when they are raking in $20 BILLION a QUARTER in PROFIT every QUARTER.

Every service lives and dies by its content. So far, MS have been garbage but if they can really commit to a first AND third party title every quarter, it'll be a decent value proposition for the majority.

I'm not prepared to say it's good or bad right now. But I'm open minded

[anast]

Anti-gamer article. It would be best not to consume stuff from a site that think articles like this are okay.

[randomvoice]

These are the same cry babies that bitched about Sony and others raising prices to 70$ for games due to inflation but now they'll be totally fine with this hike LMAO! Paid PR just BSing as usual.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

And that attitude is why it's in 3rd as always. I guess Xbox fans will take any scrap they can get at this point.

[CptDville]

No it’s not. They stopped selling physical media in many countries thereby forcing people to subscribe to game Pass and now are raising the prices.