Microsoft has kicked off October by announcing a significant price rise for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which comes just over a year after the last price rise for the subscription service.
In July 2024, Microsoft raised the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $16.99 a month to $19.99 a month in the U.S., with similar price increases occurring across all other markets. At the same time it introduced a new Standard tier at the original Game Pass Ultimate price point that lacks day one game access.
Now, just 14 months later, Microsoft has once again hiked the price of Ultimate, which jumps from $19.99 a month to $29.99 a month. That’s an increase of 50% in the U.S., or an extra $120 per year. In the UK, the jump is 53.33%, with Ultimate rising from £14.99 to £22.99, or an extra £96 a year.
In a blog post reviewed by IGN, Microsoft justified the price hike by adding various new features to Game Pass and some big new games, including Warner Bros. blockbuster Hogwarts Legacy.
The shakeup introduces three upgraded Game Pass plans: Essential, Premium, and Ultimate. Each includes expanded game libraries, including PC titles, unlimited cloud gaming, in-game benefits (including Riot Games titles), and revamped rewards.
Today’s Game Pass Core subscribers will automatically move to Essential, Standard subscribers will transition to Premium, and Ultimate subscribers will remain in the Ultimate plan. While Ultimate is now more expensive, Premium, which replaces Standard, remains at $14.99, and Essential, which replaces Core, remains at $9.99 a month.
PC Game Pass, which will continue to add Microsoft games day one including Call of Duty, has had its price increased by more than a third. In the U.S., PC Game Pass is now $16.49, up from $11.99, and in the UK it’s now £13.49 a month, up from £9.99.
Xbox Game Pass tier and price changes, October 2025:
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99 a month, up from $19.99 a month
- Xbox Game Pass Premium: $14.99 a month, the same as the old Standard subscription
- Xbox Game Pass Essential: $9.99 a month, the same as the old Core subscription
- PC Game Pass: $16.49 a month, up from $11.99
The updated pricing goes into effect today, October 1 for new subscribers, and November 4 for current subscribers. As part of the announcement, Microsoft added more than 45 new games to Game Pass. Check out the full list here.
So, how can Microsoft justify hiking the price of Ultimate by 50%? By adding more day one games (Ultimate subscribers now get over 75 day one releases a year, Microsoft said), and throwing in Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics for the first time ever. There are also upgrades to Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming quality.
Starting November 18, Fortnite Crew — which itself costs £9.99 a month in the UK — will be included in Ultimate, with access to the Fortnite Battle Pass, 1,000 V-Bucks each month, and more. Today, Ubisoft+ Classics — which costs £13.98 a month in the UK — joins Ultimate.
The cloud gaming boost amounts to better performance. Ultimate subscribers “exclusively enjoy our best quality streaming and shortest wait times,” Microsoft said. Xbox Cloud Gaming has also officially exited beta “as part of our commitment to make gameplay smoother and more responsive.”
Microsoft said the new Ultimate price reflects “the expanded catalog, new partner benefits, and upgraded cloud gaming experience.”
Premium has been upgraded to include over 200 games on Xbox console, PC, and supported devices, with new Xbox-published games within a year of their launch, excluding Call of Duty games. Premium also now has unlimited cloud gaming, including select games you own, and newly added in-game benefits for the likes of League of Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Rainbow Six Siege X. Premium subscribers can also get up to 50k points globally in the Store just by playing games, earning 2x points on purchases of games and add-ons, plus 5% back in points on select Game Pass library titles and add-ons.
Essential, meanwhile, now includes unlimited cloud gaming, online multiplayer, in-game benefits and rewards, plus a curated catalog of over 50 games playable on both console and PC. This means the Essential library is now fully playable on PC. Essential members can earn up to 25k points globally per year in the Store just by playing, and 2x points on purchases of games and add-ons.
The news comes at a time when Game Pass is under scrutiny not just for its value to Microsoft’s gaming business, but to the wider video game community. Last month, after former Bethesda executive Pete Hines questioned Xbox Game Pass as a business strategy, a former Microsoft executive backed the comments, insisting Microsoft’s subscription service creates “weird inner tensions.”
In July, amid layoffs that swept through Xbox, the founder of Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios hit out at Game Pass, whose subscription model he called “unsustainable.” Raphael Colantonio, who founded the Dishonored and Prey developer and served as its president before leaving in 2017 to start Weird West maker WolfEye Studios, took to social media to ask: “Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass).”
When asked to expand on his thoughts on Game Pass, which Weird West launched straight into as a day one title in March 2022, Colantonio said: “I think Gamepass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by MS’s ‘infinite money,’ but at some point reality has to hit. I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.”
Today, Microsoft insisted “creator participation” and “player engagement” in Game Pass are at an all-time high, but failed to announce an updated subscriber number. Microsoft has said that the subscription service reached a new annual record of nearly $5 billion in revenue for the first time this year, following the launches of The Elder Scrolls Oblivion: Remastered, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
The cost of being an Xbox fan has been a hot topic in recent months. After announcing a jump to $80 for its games due out this holiday, Microsoft back-tracked to stick with $70 for the likes of The Outer Worlds 2. And just last month Microsoft raised the price of Xbox consoles in the U.S. “due to changes in the macroeconomic environment.”
Microsoft similarly raised eyebrows when it confirmed a $999.99 price tag for the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X handheld, and $599.99 for the ROG Xbox Ally.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
