"Some things happen slowly and then all at once. So it appears to be with Xbox Game Pass. Once hailed as the "best deal in gaming," it's now best known as the deal that just keeps getting worse. A 50-percent price hike this week feels like a death knell, if not for Microsoft's $5 billion annual subscription business, then at least for the perception that the company is trying to meaningfully compete by rewarding its long-time fans with something they can't get anywhere else."
"After years of Game Pass boosterism, he was also noticeably cool on the subscription service's long-term growth prospects. "Game Pass as an overall part of our content and services revenue is probably 15 percent," he announced at the time. "I don't think it gets bigger than that. I think the overall revenue grows so 15 percent of a bigger number, but we don't have this future where I think 50-70 percent of our revenue comes from subscriptions.""
Xbox Game Pass transitioned from being praised as the "best deal in gaming" to suffering reputational damage after a 50-percent price increase that weakens perceived value for loyal users. Phil Spencer acknowledged the need for occasional price adjustments and downplayed expectations that subscriptions would dominate Xbox revenue, estimating Game Pass at roughly 15 percent of content and services revenue. Spencer reported strong PC growth but slower console growth as the console market reaches subscription saturation. Microsoft has doubled Game Pass prices over two years while facing more than $70 billion in acquisitions and tariff-driven console price increases.
Read at Kotaku
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