Xbox’s gaming subscription service is getting a revamp and price hike following recent business decisions from Microsoft.

Xbox Game Pass will be getting some major updates in its pricing (via Windows Central) and new tiers for particular customers. We’ll break it down because it can get a bit confusing.

• There will be a new Xbox Game Pass Standard tier launching this 12 September. It costs US$14.99 per month and has Xbox’s back catalogue and Xbox Live Gold. However, it will neither include Day One games nor Xbox Cloud gaming.
• Xbox Game Pass (Console) will be shuttered for new users only. Current subscribers can still maintain their subscriptions.
• Xbox Game Pass Core annual will now cost US$74.99 per year.
• If you want everything in the online subscription gaming service (Day One games including), Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will now cost US$19.99 per month.
• PC Game Pass price has now increased to US$11.99/RM20 per month. PC Game Pass will get Day One games.
• Starting 12 September, Microsoft will only allow users to stack Xbox Game Pass (Console) users for up to 13 months (ie: using pre-paid cards in advance to boost your subscription months prior). If you have done this 13+ months stacking before this announcement, you won’t be affected.

Here are the Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass prices for Southeast Asia, Asia, and Oceanic countries.

[Update: 16/7/2024] PC Game Pass annual subscription for Malaysia will be RM240 this September. Previously it cost RM180 per year.

Xbox is still updating this new policy as we speak, so this article may see some changes in the coming hours.

Why Is Xbox Doing This?

According to the Xbox Game Pass email we received, the official reason for the price hike is to “address changing market conditions”. Savvy people will know that this is most likely due to Xbox’s recent Activision Blizzard King purchase (among other acquisitions prior), and the fact that Game Pass may not be seeing strong growth beyond the current install base.

While the latter is big, the subscription needs to expand beyond it to gain more revenue, hence the Day One games shift to the highest tier for the Game Pass. It’s less a removal of features and more of shifting things around. This may tick people off, but at least those with PC Game Pass since day one will only experience a subscription price increase. Having Call of Duty as a Day One title in your service means extra tax for all.