Xbox Game Pass Price Increase Confirmed, New “Standard” Tier Announced

Those depending on Game Pass for their games, you’re about to shell out a lot more for it come in a few months, as Microsoft is sending out emails confirming of the Xbox Game Pass price increase for the “Ultimate” tier, which will cost $19.99 starting September.

The price hike adds $3 on top of the current price now of $16.99, and this will also affect PC gamers as well. Also starting in September, PC Game Pass will see an increase from $9.99 to $11.99. For those that do not mind not playing the latest games, Microsoft will be offering a “Standard” tier at $14.99, and the major difference for this cheaper tier is it won’t give players the chance to play day-one access to first-party Xbox games. No release date is set for the Standard tier yet outside of that it’s incoming in a “few months.” Thankfully, this new Standard tier will also include online multiplayer access for consoles, which is something Xbox Game Pass for consoles didn’t feature previously.

Players interested in stacking to “hike-proof” their subscription will only be able to stack up to 13 months from September 18, though this won’t impact existing subscription stacks. You can check out the price increase in your country’s currency here.

Microsoft’s timing of the price hike of the subscription service comes hot at the heels of the confirmation that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available on Game Pass day one. Of course, given the news, players will need to pony up extra in order to make sure Black Ops 6 is part of their Game Pass tier.

This is the second price hike by Microsoft for the subscription service, with the first one announced in June of last year. Let’s hope we’re not reporting on another price increase for it at this time in 2025.

In other Xbox news, a good chunk of gamers have loudly complained about their in-game inbox getting swamped with spam messages.

[Source: The Verge]

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