Xbox boss admits Game Pass has gotten too expensive

Big changes are likely on the way for Xbox Game Pass.

As reported by The Verge, Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, admitted in an internal employee memo that the subscription service has become too pricey.

“Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox. It’s also clear that the current model isn’t the final one,” wrote Sharma. “Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system which will take time to test and learn around.”

Microsoft increased the price of Game Pass by a whopping 50 per cent in October, bringing the cost of its Ultimate tier, which includes day one access to first- and third-party games, to $33.99/month. Naturally, this led to much outcry from fans and even a surge in Google searches for “how to cancel Xbox Game Pass.” That said, it’s unclear what material impact the price hike may have had, given that Microsoft hasn’t disclosed official subscriber counts in years.

The Verge notes that part of the reason for the increase was because of Microsoft’s decision to bring new Call of Duty games to Xbox Game Pass on day one. This had reportedly raised concerns within the company that revenue typically generated by Call of Duty sales would be undermined by Game Pass.

Interestingly, The Verge‘s report coincides with recent comments about how Call of Duty factors into Microsoft’s Game Pass strategy by Windows Central‘s Jez Corden on the XB2+1 podcast. According to Corden, Microsoft is considering pulling Call of Duty off Game Pass this year.

It remains to be seen whether that will happen, or what other changes might come to Game Pass to make it “more flexible” as Sharma suggested. The Verge says Sharma also noted in her memo that she plans to dig “deeper” into Game Pass with employees next week, so don’t expect any imminent changes, in any event.

What is clear, though, is that this is clearly part of her larger goal of ushering in “the return of Xbox,” which includes bringing its global FanFest event back to cities like Toronto and re-focusing on the core console business with its next-gen system, codenamed Project Helix.

Sharma’s appointment as the successor to long-running Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been met with scrutiny given her lack of experience in gaming and prior role as an executive in Microsoft’s AI division. In response to that, Sharma has been actively communicating with fans on X (Twitter) and claimed she’s against bringing “soulless AI slop” to games.

But of course, she hasn’t even been in the role for two months now, so there is still much to be done. If anything else, we should gain a bit more insight into Xbox’s long-term plans on June 7 when the company will hold its annual Xbox Games Showcase. This will also be immediately followed by a stream dedicated to Gears of War E-Day from Vancouver-based developer The Coalition.

In related news, we recently went hands-on with Forza Horizon 6 ahead of its launch next month, and our impressions were glowing.

Image credit: Xbox

Source: The Verge