Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier is going to cost more money for subscribers. It also revealed plans for a new Standard tier that’s launching imminently, without day-one titles.
For new members, the price increase is coming into effect immediately and will see the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price rise from $17 per month to $20 (£15 in the U.K) month in the U.S. The price is going up in all global markets.
For existing subscribers, the increased prices won’t go into effect until September 12, so they have a small stay of execution.
The rise in prices is quite significant, especially over the course of a full year. The Game Pass Ultimate tier is the premium category, providing access to Microsoft’s full library of games, including day-one games (newly released titles), and also enables users to stream their own games from the cloud onto any TV that has the Xbox app.
The company said it’s also discontinuing the Xbox Game Pass for Console for new users, though existing users will continue to have access for the time being.
Moreover, in the coming months, it will launch a new Xbox Game Pass Standard plan, which will cost $15 per month.
Under the Standard plan, subscribers will be able to access the full library of Xbox games, but will not be able to play day-one releases. So Standard plan users will not be able to play the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 release, which is launching imminently. That will be restricted to Ultimate subscribers only.
The Standard plan allows users to play online console multiplayer games, but it does not support cloud streaming.
Although the price increases probably won’t be seen as good news by anyone, Microsoft is at least set to expand the number of titles available through the Game Pass service thanks to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The company is reportedly gearing up to add a number of that developer’s games to Game Pass, with the first titles expected to debut in August.
In addition, more people will be able to access the Game Pass service, as Microsoft has recently begun introducing the Xbox TV app to other platforms, including Amazon’s Fire TV OS, having previously been exclusive to Samsung TVs.
