Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price increased by 50% to $30 per month
Improved Xbox Game Pass Premium and Essential plans at no extra cost
📈 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is now $10 more expensive, making the subscription $30 per month
🎮 The price increase adds 45 new games and all Ubisoft+ Classics on console and PC
🛜 Xbox Cloud Gaming streams at 1440p with a higher bitrate
📚 Standard Xbox Game Pass plan revamped into Xbox Game Pass Premium with access to 200 games
🔄 Xbox Game Pass Core rebranded to Xbox Game Pass Essential and game access doubled to 50 titles
💻 Premium and Essential plans get upgraded with PC Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming access, as well as in-game perks
💲 Xbox rewards program reworked for Game Pass subscribers to earn up to $100 in store credit by playing games
Microsoft has increased the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate by $10 (50% more) to make the service $30 per month – that’s $360 a year!
The price increase at least comes with upgrades – which Microsoft didn’t include with the subscription’s last price increase – including immediate access to 45 new games, including Hogwarts Legacy, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Trials Rising, and most of the past Assassin’s Creed library – except Shadows. Microsoft is also doubling the number of day one releases to 75 games, just in time for Call of Duty Black Ops 7, The Outer Worlds 2, High On Life 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, and more.
All Ubisoft+ classics and Fortnite Crew are also now available to Ultimate tier subscribers. Another bonus is Fortnite Crew, which includes $1,000 V-bucks and the Fortnite Battle Pass. Microsoft claims the combined Ubisoft+ Classics and Fortnite Crew access is a combined $28 value.
Ultimate tier subscribers also get exclusive access to Xbox Cloud Gaming’s improved 1440p and higher bitrate game streaming – but it’s not universal across all titles. It’ll be interesting to pit this new and improved Xbox Cloud Gaming now coming out of beta against the new Nvidia RTX 5080-powered Nvidia GeForce Now.
Xbox Game Pass Premium & Xbox Game Pass Essential
Microsoft has also renamed and improved other tiers of Xbox Game Pass at no extra cost.
The standard Xbox Game Pass membership is now Xbox Game Pass Premium, but remains at its $14.99 price. Merifically, the name comes with no price increase, and users can now play a larger library of 200 games. Premium users also gain Ultimate tier in-game perks for games like League of Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X. Premium.
Next up, Xbox Game Pass Core has been renamed Xbox Game Pass Essential and similarly dodges a price increase to remain at $9.99 per month. The library for Game Pass Essential subscribers has been doubled from 25 to 50 games. Essential users also gain perks in Riot-developed games.
In another shake-up, both the Premium and Essential tiers grant access to Game Pass games on PC and Xbox Cloud streaming, which previously was locked to Game Pass Ultimate. Xbox Cloud Gaming game streaming includes Game Pass titles and select games users own.
Another shared improvement is that the Xbox rewards program now allows Game Pass subscribers of all tiers to earn points and redeem them for money in the store just by playing games. Ultimate tier users can earn up to $100 (100,000 points). Premium and Essential users, meanwhile, are limited to $50 and $25, respectively.
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.