🙂↔️ Microsoft dismissed rumors of an Xbox Game Pass overhaul, confirming day-one releases on Game Pass Ultimate will remain unchanged
🤔 A ResetEra leak claimed Microsoft planned ad-supported ($13/month) and ad-free ($20/month) tiers, removing cloud gaming and day-one titles by February 2027
💰 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate currently costs $23/month under CEO Asha Sharma, alongside Essential ($9.99/month) and Premium ($14.99/month) options
🔒 Call of Duty is currently the only first-party title excluded from day-one Game Pass releases
Microsoft has released a statement addressing a new rumor that Xbox Game Pass is set to undergo a major overhaul.
According to ResetEra user Slayven, who has previously reported on unannounced Xbox news accurately, Microsoft is planning to change Xbox Game Pass into two new tiers: one that has ads, and one that does not.
The tiers would be priced at $13 a month for the ad-enabled version and $20 a month for the ad-free version of Game Pass.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate currently costs $23 a month after the price was lowered by new CEO Asha Sharma. There are also two more tiers available right now: Essential, which costs $9.99 a month, and Premium at $14.99 a month.
The new lower $20 price will include two big changes from the current Ultimate offering. Xbox Cloud Gaming – which has been nerfed recently – will be removed and sold as an add-on service. Day-one new releases will also be cut from February 2027, which would be a huge change for the service.
To keep things confusing for customers, Microsoft will also reportedly offer another tier of Game Pass that costs $15 a month and lets you access select titles in the Game Pass library plus online multiplayer. There will also be a standalone $11 membership for those who just want online access, and a Family Plan will be made available that costs an extra $6 a month.
However, after the Xbox Game Pass rumor began to spread, Microsoft has since come out and squashed it. In a statement to Forbes, a spokesperson said: “We regularly test different Game Pass offerings and look at what works best for players in different markets. We don’t have any changes to announce today or plans that have been finalized. There are no changes to previously announced games coming to Game Pass Ultimate on day one.”
Microsoft has conceded that Xbox Game Pass hasn’t grown at the rate it expected, and has experimented with new ways of making the service more enticing. A big gamble was releasing Call of Duty onto the service on day-one, but after sales were impacted significantly, Call of Duty was removed, which also led to a price drop. It’s the only first-party title that isn’t offered as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.
Xbox won’t want to derail its current sentiment of goodwill, as fans have been pleased by the rapid releases of new console updates, its disc-to-digital program, and the partnership announcement with Hideo Kojima’s Kojima Productions.
If it were to announce the rumored changes to Game Pass, specifically removing day-one releases from the service, it would represent a huge shift away from the service’s original appeal.
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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.