The latest price hike for Microsoft’s Game Pass in October 2025 did not go over well with many customers. In an internal memo, the new head of Xbox now agrees: Game Pass is too expensive.
When prices for Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass were raised for the last time in October 2025, there was a huge outcry in the community. Not only did three of the four subscription tiers become noticeably more expensive, but the price of the powerful Ultimate subscription with access also rose by around 50 percent.
As a reminder:The Essential subscription for multiplayer on consoles rose from 7 to 9 euros. The Standard subscription (renamed Premium) remained at 13 euros, the PC Game Pass rose from 12 to 15 euros, and the Ultimate Game Pass from 18 to a whopping 27 euros per month. That amounts to over 320 euros per year at the highest tier.
In light of this, many customers canceled their subscriptions shortly after the new prices were announced, as they were unwilling to bear the increasing financial burden. At one point, Microsoft’s cancellation website even crashed.
Xbox Head Criticizes Game Pass
Of course, Microsoft has never publicly disclosed exactly how many cancellations there were. However, Microsoft likely felt the impact of the price adjustment in its own books. Because nowa shift in thinking appears to be taking place at the Xbox division.
At least, that’s what statements from the new Xbox head, Asha Sharma, suggest. The American took over the position just a few weeks ago from longtime boss Phil Spencer; however, she has already identified a key point of criticism regarding Game Pass.
According to an internal memo to employees, which was obtained by colleagues atThe Verge According to an exclusive report, Sharma believes that Game Passhas become too expensive for gamers
. Microsoft must alsooffer better value for money
. Specifically, the letter states:
Game Pass is central to the Xbox gaming experience. However, it is also clear that the current model is not the final solution. In the short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value proposition. In the long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system, though testing and optimizing it will take time.
– Asha Sharma (CEO of Microsoft Gaming)
Will Game Pass now be cheaper?
With this, Sharma is already raising hopes among many Microsoft customers for a price cut. However, nothing concrete is known yet—the memo is still internal company communication. But if the Xbox chief is already telling her employees that the subscription is currently too expensive, this suggests an imminent change to the Game Pass pricing model.
Such changes, however, do not necessarily have to be accompanied by price cuts. It could happen, for example, that Microsoft decides,to remove some very expensive games from the Game Pass catalog.
A prime candidate for this is the Call of Duty franchise. As The Verge further reports, Microsoft raised the price of Game Pass 2025 primarily to offset the inclusion of the new CoD at launch.
The game catalog could therefore shrink overall. Exactly what changes are coming to Game Pass remains unclear at this point. We expect Microsoft to unveil a new pricing model for its game subscription in the coming weeks. As soon as that happens, you’ll be the first to know here on GlobalESportNews.
