Microsoft recently announced a significant price increase for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, raising the monthly cost from $20 to an eye-watering $30. This change has sparked widespread discussion among gamers, with many jokingly referring to the new annual cost as ‘Xbox 360 dollars per year.’ Beyond the humor, however, many subscribers, including myself, are grappling with whether the service still delivers sufficient value.
Microsoft has introduced new incentives and rearranged existing features to accompany the price adjustment. But do these additions genuinely enhance the subscription’s appeal, or do they merely add to the confusion surrounding its true worth? It’s time to delve into the details.
Currently, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate provides day-one access to all Microsoft-published games, alongside a diverse library of other titles. It also bundles subscriptions to EA Play, Ubisoft Classics, and will soon include Fortnite Crew. On paper, the combined annual value of these extra subscriptions—Ubisoft Classics ($80), EA Play ($40), and Fortnite Crew ($144)—totals $264. This figure certainly helps to offset the $360 annual cost of Game Pass, but only if you actually utilize these additional services.
Let’s examine the bundled subscriptions more closely. Ubisoft Classics, for instance, has a standard PC-only tier priced at $7.99 per month. Its Premium tier, offering both PC and Xbox access, costs $17.99 monthly. Xbox suggests its version of Ubisoft Classics adds $7.99 per month per platform, implying a $15.98 value for those playing on both PC and Xbox. However, the Game Pass version provides a rotating selection of standard edition games, a much smaller offering compared to the 100+ premium titles available through a standalone Ubisoft Premium subscription. Despite Microsoft’s valuation, these caveats make it difficult to take the ‘value per platform’ claim seriously.
EA Play is more straightforward. Its standalone subscription costs $5.99 per month, offering 10-hour trials for new games and unlimited access to a collection of popular EA titles, which appears consistent with what Game Pass Ultimate provides. A notable difference, however, is the absence of game and DLC discounts, which were previously a part of Game Pass but have been eliminated with the price increase. Standalone EA and Ubisoft subscriptions still offer these discounts.
Fortnite Crew introduces another layer of complexity. An annual subscription grants access to all Battle Passes, 1,000 V-Bucks per month (12,000 yearly), and 12 sets of unique Fortnite Crew outfits. While this might seem appealing, especially for dedicated players, the actual value can be deceptive. Many Battle Pass and Crew rewards consist of generic, less desirable items designed to fill out the offerings, rather than the highly coveted genre-bending collaborations seen in events like Scooby-Doo or Power Rangers.
To truly justify the cost of Fortnite Crew, players would need to adore every Crew outfit, regularly use the Jam Tracks, consistently play LEGO Fortnite modes, and complete all Battle Passes. In essence, $144 gets you approximately $100 worth of V-Bucks, along with a collection of skins, LEGO pieces, and Jam Tracks that most players might not even use. For regular Fortnite players, buying a single Crew Pass to complete a Battle Pass and earn V-Bucks often makes more sense than maintaining a continuous subscription.
When it comes to Microsoft-published games, Game Pass continues to make a compelling argument. This year alone has seen major titles like Avowed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Gears of War Reloaded launch directly into the service. Upcoming releases such as Ninja Gaiden 4, Call of Duty Black Ops 7, The Outer Worlds 2, and Keeper are also on the horizon. Additionally, numerous third-party games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong arrive on Game Pass Day One. Yet, even here, the ‘value’ remains subjective, requiring extensive playtime across these titles to truly equate to the subscription cost.
A recent study by Circana, released shortly after the Game Pass price hike, revealed that most US gamers buy two or fewer new games annually. Given that the majority of players spend around $140 a year on new games, it raises a crucial question: does the average player genuinely find value in spending $360 annually for temporary access to a limited selection of titles?
It’s also important to acknowledge that the consistent release of high-profile first-party games cannot be guaranteed year after year. The perceived value often hinges on potential future releases rather than concrete assurances.
To maximize the benefits of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, one would almost need to exclusively rely on it for their gaming needs, a usage pattern that doesn’t align with the majority of gamers. Personally, as someone who enjoys Microsoft’s first-party offerings, plays Fortnite frequently, and primarily uses my Xbox for gaming, I fall into a rare category where the ‘Xbox $360’ price tag might be justifiable. Even then, I hesitate.
In its early days, Game Pass felt like an incredible steal; playing just one or two games easily justified the cost, with everything else being a bonus. Now, with the increased price, the financial calculation has become far more intricate. It feels less like an obvious benefit and more like a gamble, reminiscent of trusting a stranger with your wallet. The constant changes and the transient nature of the service further complicate matters.
Xbox Game Pass was once the undisputed best deal in console gaming. Today, it remains a deal in console gaming, but only under very specific and often demanding circumstances.