Poll: Will You Stay Subscribed To Xbox Game Pass After The Price Hike?

Game pass could double in price and will still be a fantastic deal than a company that charges $70 for all day one games.

I am actually subscribed those days to the PC version so I guess I am not affected? But I will cancel since I don't have time to play and resubscribe closer to Christmas

It’s been a whole lotta nothing for the last few months, so I don’t even have gamepass active atm. I’ll sub for Starfield then we’ll see

I will, but only because last month my GamePass expired, so stacked several 3 months live gold card and converted to GPU. covered until 2026 for aprox 100 USD. Can’t believe they haven’t closed that loophole.

I currently buy Gamepass Ultimate from a key reseller for $5 so the price increase doesn't affect me.

If I was paying full price Gamepass would cost me $20 which simply isn't worth it. Especially the past couple months where its been heavy on indie games and duds like Redfall.

It’s one dollar people!!! This site comes off sometimes anti-Xbox and more pro PlayStation. Your headlines come off more pro PlayStation, and that’s not even what happened in like the case for Activision.

@Nickhyazaki yeah it’s great and everything but people might still might want to have the game in their library. I will get Starfield day one on gamepass but I would have to sub each time I want to play it on gamepass and still have to pay for the DLC too. It’s a great offer but there is also nothing wrong with buying the games. Also £70 is a reasonable price for most AAA games considering inflation would have them sitting at over £90 currently. Just because you like to sub doesn’t mean everyone else is a moron for paying the full price. Not everybody plays day one either, especially in the current age of gaming where games are launching with lots of bugs.

I have gamepass ultimate , plus premium and I buy games across the platforms too. No need to ***** on someone else’s choice.

I don’t think I will ever pay full price for Game Pass.

I’m all paid up to November 2024 having bought three years worth for about £2.50 per month.

I’m assuming when I renew next year I will find a deal, obviously not as good as that, so that will be fine for me.

Even at full price it is worth it. Even if you subscribe for a few months at a time to catch up with the games you missed then unsubscribe for a bit.

Having said all that:
Microsoft don’t ‘need’ the money. And so I’m not gonna defend them when everyone is struggling financially, especially low income families. A lot of mums won’t know how to get these good deals and will once again be paying more for the same service, just as they are paying more for almost everything right now.

Little people will continue to lose out while the fat cats of multibillion dollar corporations continue to rake in money while telling us “we are all in this together”.

So I’m not gonna justify the price hike. It still sucks, even if it won’t affect me personally too much.

I cancelled in May after months of new additions that did not interest me. I will resubscribe if Starfield releases in a reasonable state and if that’s not the case then for Forza. The days of just letting it auto renew are dead for me, price hike or not, as Ive barely turned my XSX on this year except for Wo long which I could have just bought outright for the money I have spent on gamepass.

The price hike was bound to come in and to be honest I don’t care as long as it funds good quality games. I think both Gamepass and Plus could go a lot higher in price for me before I turn my nose.

@Nickhyazaki
Sooo, you mean literally every developer and publisher out there now including Microsoft who raised their game prices despite Phil saying they won't?

A couple of quid is not an issue. But I fear this is just the start of a gradual process. I'll bet it'll rise again just an itsy-bitsy bit with 'inflation' on a yearly or bi-yearly basis until they get it where they want. Like Netflix and every other digital streaming service.

@Nickhyazaki Microsoft does charge 70 dollars for all Day One games. In fact it charges 35 dollars even for games that on Game Pass for true day one thanks to this 5 days early access nonsense.

I only play a 2-4 games a year on xbox. Ill just jump in when an exclusive like starfield hits, of course for free with bing reward points

In Canada we would pay $11.99 for XB Gold and $16.99 for GamePass today. So incrementally, I am paying $5.00 for GamePass Ultimate. I assume Canada will see a $3-4 jump. Still worth it in my books. Do I like price increases? No... Is this one OK? Yes.

Is this “stacking 3 years of Gold and turning it into GP Ultimate” thing reliable? It seems tempting but I don’t want to burn € 100 on codes I can’t use.

If I can pay for game pass ultimate with the gift card money in my Microsoft account it would ease the blow. No way I'm claiming game pass ultimate with the free code because it always locks up the console when trying to get it.

I'm good until the 18th October, if I haven't completed Starfield by that day then I will re subscribe until I finish it, and then let my subscription run up until Hellblade 2 or Avowed come out.

I'm not justifying any price raise but when people complain about Game Pass, they should consider three things. Firstly, you can unsubscribe and still be able to get all of the games. This is the most important thing, choice. Secondly, you can get free credit easily just switching from Google to Bing and I can assure you that Bing has been improved massively in the last years. Of course, just by playing Game Pass games you get more Rewards points. Finally, compare it to the competition. Sony doesn't have exclusives on day one and Nintendo doesn't let you buy the classic games (emulated roms) and ignores your previous purchases.

Besides, the price increase is minimal.

Yes if it improves soon the last few months have been god awful

@somnambulance completely agree with you and I hope at least your sons getting some good use out of it! The thing is as well I remained subbed for the promise of good games but so many of the indies released this year just got such Average/negative reviews I didn’t even want to invest time trying them when there’s more interesting stuff to play.
It’s almost at the point where I see a game I’m interested in is releasing day one on gamepass so just assume it’s going to be a 6/10 at best.

I get the day one release addition is a big selling point for gamepass but it seems pointless when most of those day one games aren’t worth playing.

@Deshalu Really? So an Xbox site should praise everything the brand does, even if it's a price increase?
This isn't a cult by the way.

This is gonna attract so many liars. Don't even need to sign in to vote. Silly idea

Game Pass has sort of transformed my tastes and the way that I consume games, so I don't see myself walking away. I will say I try to keep my monthly subscriptions to essentials though, so I'm hoping I'll be able to do a three year conversion again before that trick goes away.

Yes it’s still worth it, for now. Obviously more so due to stacking.

Will it be worth it by the time my stacking ends? I will see. We can already see the amount of games added is lowering. And I highly doubt this is the last price increase incoming.

The longer you have any sub, the value drops because you have played what’s on there that you want to.

But right now between the 400ish games on GP and the upto 900 on Plus. Its the best time to own multiple consoles.

I already have 12 months on my Ultimate Game Pass subscription, however, I just bought 13 of the £7.99 3 month Gold subscriptions at a cost of £103.87, which converted to 2 more years of UGP, and saving me £207.89 were I to have paid the £12.99 monthly that it is rising to as of next month. A saving of two thirds is well worth the hassle of entering 13 codes...

@GADG3Tx87 Yea, I think this is going to follow the “frog in boiling water” slow cadence that you see from other subs as soon as they exit their hyper-growth stage. It’s less jarring to raise it by $1 every year rather than several all at once.

@Darude84
My thoughts exactly. Does gold stacking work, and what is the easiest way to do this?
If anyone could help me out, I’d be more than appreciative.

I have so many thoughts.

1. I don’t think $2 is a deal-breaker for everyone, though its timing is so shockingly poor (following Redfall and years of no AAA games, during a time when MS is trying to get approval to spend an unfathomable amount of money for Activision). So bad optics.

2. But everyone’s financial situation is different too. I think it’s pretty crappy to just assume $2 is no big deal for everyone. Even people with the means to pay it may not see the value — $2 means different things to everyone, and no one ever got or stayed wealthy by paying more for services they don’t use.

3. That said, it’s a little annoying that I bought 3 years of GPU on the promise of day-1 AAA titles — and now that it’s finally set to happen with regularity, the price goes up in my third and final year.

4. I’m not renewing but it’s not all about the $2 increase. I was told over and over that Gamepass was a near-requirement for having an Xbox, but I learned something about my Series X — almost all my time is spent on games I own, not Gamepass. Part of this is probably due to the lackluster offerings on GPU as of late, but I think it’s always sold Xbox short to say it’s useless without an additional sub. It’s a great console with or without it. So paying more for a service I don’t use at all just doesn’t seem worthwhile to me anymore. And the few first-party games I want a year? I’ll get them at my leisure.

I have a PS5, Switch, PC (and subs for all those). And having kids means less time for gaming in general these days. I have more games than I have time for. So I’m not getting the value of Gamepass anyway, though I don’t think that means it’s a bad subscription.

But I do look forward to the narrative moving away from “you need Gamepass” to seeing it as a suppplamental service.

I have a huge backlog so no. I'll suscribe again for Starfield.

It’s a tiny increase. Still great value. And as for tusk being a big story? It really wasn’t and isn’t.

Maybe, I am not sure yet.

I have a lot of time stacked up, got to go to my account to see how much I have left. I’m still debating if I should stack more time to “refresh” to the limit, or just wait until it expires and only renew whenever there is something of interest to me.

There is a chance at some point there will always be something of interest to me, and the price difference is not that high, but at the same time, I also plan already to some months be likely exclusively playing UBisoft games via UBisoft+ (mirage, avatar, Star Wars outlaws), were I also plan to just subscribe for the month.

So… not decided yet. I have come to a breaking point with subscriptions in general where I had to basically shut down all my streaming services because I was spending too much money a month in them and rarely using them, don’t want to keep doing that for services I don’t use absolutely all the time.

For now no. But it has less to do with the price and more to do with the fact that I haven’t turned my xbox on in 6 months. Plus my backlog is massive. No point in giving away money. I will see if I can do the gold conversion others do when I come back for Starfield. I didn’t find out about that until after I subbed so I have been paying full price the entire time.

If you're fortunate enough to be in an area with rewards points you can be playing for free or almost free. I have 2+ years of GPU stacked up and it keeps growing. Personally gamepass is what really brought me back to gaming so I'll be subscribed to it for the foreseeable future. Can't say forever cuz you never know what a corporation will do.... but for now.... no plans of unsubscribing.

I'm pretty torn. I like Game Pass, but it's also sort of a novelty to me. I'm half tempted to just buy Starfield on Steam, even though my PC Game Pass is paid until April. PC Game Pass doesn't really do modding, so... That sorta screws Starfield in that regard.

CD keys 6 months GPU for £46. Will prob go up a bit soon but it is always a huge saving. Not something I would do for a small devloper but I am sure the trillion dollar company will cope.

Straw that broke the camels back and all that.

Gamepass hasn't even been that good of a value for me. For the costs I've spend on game pass I could have bought the couple games I actually wanted out right and save a few hundred bucks. Even on the PC it hasn't rest been the best.

At this point looking like I'd be better off just dropping to gold.

@somnambulance Haha you named some of the exact games I was thinking. My subscription was due to end day after Planet of Lana came out. I gave it a good few hours as a kind of last gasp subscription saviour after all the positive reviews and I just couldn’t get passed the fact it was a prettier but less interesting Limbo/Inside. And a lot of the games feel like that. They are just average examples of their genre which are good if you have never played a game like that before but if you have played the games they are based on before they offer nothing new.

As you point out 2022 had a tonne of interesting and unique titles but they have just not recaptured that magic this year. It’s especially noticeable when PS extra is having a stormer of a year. Ratchet & Clank and Horizon FW would be worth the sub fee alone this year without anything else if you didn’t own them.

Everything else has gone up in price.

Price increase makes no change to me. I've minimised the subscription services recently and game pass was always a keeper. Big games coming and worth the fee. Of course, that's not the case for everyone and each to their own. Game pass has saved me a fortune over the years.

@Fishticon it’s one dollar. no, nobody should care about this price hike. My comment about anti xbox is based off of their other topics, and how they headline.

@Fishticon plus PlayStation plus charges you 17 bucks for no brand new day one games

Outstanding value to me. So many good games, even indies like the recent fantastic RPG Cassette Beasts on Day One. I have PS Plus Premium too and while they have some good games , it’s almost all older games that I have already played or played on GamePass. So GP is a better value to me and this $1 increase is a drop in the bucket compared to the value I get.

I get it as part of my EE phone contract. So I'll keep subscribing for sure.

Well, I've just resubscribed. I may not play all the games I want with the time I have for gaming, but I sure as hell blow way more money on games every month for sure. Games I will most likely never play more than once. So yeah, I'm going to go with GPU from here on out and only buy the games I really want to keep or that require more than one playthrough to fully appreciate

@Total_Weirdo due yourself a favor and play Gears Tactics and Wasteland 3.

@Darude84 buy turkey gold from gamivo ( about £22 for 12months ) apply with VPN and u can get up to 36 months

@Gkobz make sure ultimate has run out then buy 12 months turkey gold ( up to 36 months approx £22 each ) from places like gamivo , applu to account with VPN ,then but a approx £3 month of gold fre same place

For now… Yes all the way! Stacked to 2026!

As for after this, well who the heck knows what game pass will look like then. I’ll judge it on if all the first party stuff to come is actually good, if the pass is not majority stuffed with poor to average ‘filler’ titles by then and also see if the price rises further.

And I’m not thinking too far ahead, I remember being on this site in 2020 predicting the pass would be filled with tons of first party by mid ‘2022’, and here we are in mid 2023 still waiting for starfield. I was too optimistic then, not anymore.

Also time really does fly!

@SplooshDmg I think every single Creation Engine game made so far has launched with its own mod-manager built in. I doubt they will leave that out on the PC release. I still bought the Constellation edition for PC that just comes with a Steam key, so I'll most likely will be playing it on Steam, still (there is a chance I just threw money at a watch I'll never wear and play the game on Game Pass PC..., yea I'm that dumb with money sometimes.)

I have friends and family. Is this seeing a price increase? Have seen no word of it. Maybe people from same countries could sign up. I pay $8nzd (4usd) month for 1 account split between 5 of us.

Yea, but only by exploiting cheap one off codes on CDKeys. I only use it for streaming on my iPad so I’m overpaying as it is. If they offered a streaming only sub I’d jump on that.

@RadioHedgeFund I also would be interested in a cloud only service as well. Depending on price of course.

@Tharsman I nearly pulled the trigger on the premium edition on CDKeys this morning. As of right now, I think the Windows Store version is moddable, but with limitations. Those locked down read only directories won't even let me inject ReShade into the Skyrim exe because I don't have permission to. As far as I understand there isn't a way to give yourself permission either. But the real problem is the Windows Store versions of games have an entirely different exe than the Steam version, so really, the mods being made for Steam are designed to be compatible with Steam.

I use Microsoft rewards to cover GamePass and haven’t ever paid for it. It has been a rough year or so for GamePass so I’m glad I don’t pay for it.

I don’t think I’d pay $17/month for it on a regular basis as there just aren’t enough games I’m interested in playing on it. I’d more than likely just sub for a month to play what I want and then let it go until games came back out.

So I guess the short answer is no I wouldn’t pay $17 every month but I also wouldn’t pay the current $15.

My subscription runs out in May next year. If they start delivering on these upcoming exclusives I'll renew but there is nothing in the library at the moment to get me to renew.

Despite paying every month, I havent played a Gamepass game since Hifi Rush.

I used to justify it by saying the money could be earned back in microsoft points but the unreliable tracking is too much hassle now.

I'll probably cancel and just resubscribe a month at a time when something decent comes out.

Yes. Its 2 bucks more, 50 cents a week, not the end of the world. Spend ~15 minutes a day doing menial Microsoft rewards tasks and it'll cost you nothing out of pocket anyways. Things get more expensive over time, the cost of games in some regards has stayed flat for decades. Even at $17 its a heck of a deal

Yes while I can redeem through Microsoft Rewards, I wouldn't be subbed if I couldn't

Just a reminder for people talking about Bing and Microsoft Rewards: that's not available for all regions.

To be honest i cutted my sub 4 months ago maybe i will subscribe when starfield drops but price hike will make it far less attractive in my region and for me

Will I stay subscribed? Not sure, my few years of extended GamePass for $1 upgrade finally ran out. I was just charged under $50 for a 3 month increment. The price isn't the big issue for me, it's the overall service.

Considering how little I've used GamePass or my XB1/Series X in these past 3 years (?) of my $1 GamePass Ultimate upgrade, I'm leaning towards no. I may let it lapse, then subscribe again when Starfield launches to see what I think. Considering most of Xbox's exclusives are still a long way off, and many don't interest me, I may just cancel outright.

To be fair, now that Sony has released most of their big hits, and Nintendo released TotK, there isn't really much in all of gaming I'm looking forward to. This gen has been a major letdown compared to the past two.

The good thing about this is that I've been able to work on some of my backlog. I gave up on the impossible task of trying to finish it, but I'm at least trying to finish recent and my most wanted games in it.

@Casco

That still works? Where do you get the cards?

I don't know. I don't see a big issue in the price. Actually, a bit more expensive could change people's thinking about using games this way.
I still have the Gamepass Ultimate for several months and to be honest, I only have it because of that little trick with upgrading.
I still love to buy games and even more on disc.
So it's not a huge deal for me.

Have noticed it’s amazing how many people say it’s good value on the gold conversion trick, whereas those that don’t have that are more hesitant.

Will be interesting what happens if they finally remove this.

I still pay for gamepass but I didn't t play much since Zelda TOTK came out last month but still it 's an incredible value for 23$ in Canada. A stand alone AAA game cost almost 100$ taxes included here so around 3 months of gamepass. The equivalent of 4 AAA total a year for all these Games plus with the rewards program I can Buy other Games with gift cards.

@Martsmall Thanks! Can I do this when my current (monthly) subscription through Microsoft is paused or should I first cancel it completely?

Undecided yet. It's only $24 a year (26 with us average sales tax added.). For now not enough to destroy the value for me. But I also don't use it enough to justify it THAT much. One more price increase and I'm probably out unless they don't discount their games in good sales Nintendo style.

What's most curious to me is Xbox opponents always talk about "free" games and Xbox subsidizing and training people to not pay for games. This isn't free. It's expensive. It still offers good value for power users but it's far from cheap, free, or not paying. Sure compared to live TV it's cheap but thats because it includes hundreds of channels from dozens of licensors all as single bundle packages nobody wants.

Costs me about £30 a year so yeah. 2 years of Game Pass with Starfield or just Starfield? It’s a no brainer!!

It's only two dollars more. But some people may not be able pay that extra. I currently buy Game Pass Ultimate from resellers from Ebay at $5-$8 so I won't be affected. I recommend some of you guys to do the same but make sure to look at the sellers reviews.

Ohhhhh man, this is going to be like blood in the water for some, ahem, passionate alternatives. Me? One British pound extra? Easy. I find it so ironic that the guys on twitter bashing the increase are also paying for a blue tick, all I hear is waaaaaah. For real, it's not a huge increase and after that showcase, and after they aquire actiblizz, and after starfield and Forza, who in their right brain frame is complaining about this? Come on, don't be silly Billy's.

I will most likely keep it but I could see myself eventually doing like a month or two on followed by a month or two off.

Gamepass can be free if you do all the gampeass rewards and Buy gamepass subscription with it.

Hoping the 3 year cheat is still active. I have my gold cards ready to go. If not then will just pay for it with the MS reward points.

@NEStalgia See, this is my predicament. It's not cheap at all. On a good month, it's a good value, especially during a month like Starfield month. But reality is I'm playing Switch, I'm playing something on Steam, I'm playing something on PS5. Even just subbing for a month here or there to play a single $70 game, I'd still just rather have the game on Steam. Even if I pay for a month with MS rewards, I could have also cashed those rewards out for Walmart gift cards and laundered them into eShop credit.

The only game I've played on Game Pass lately is Pillars of Eternity, and that game costs like $5 on sale. Then I found out that PC Game Pass does not cloud save all games (WTF right?) and I had accidentally deleted my save file by resetting my system, because I went nuclear and deleted my WindowsApps folder in a what I'm calling a rage quit (it made the Windows Store even less useable than normal). But even EGS has cloud saves for all games, and EGS basically sucks. I'm trying to convince myself to stay on the Xbox app for the decent value, but good God, the QoL on this app is terrible. I think they make this app so dysfunctional to make Windows looks more functional by comparison.

For sure I’ll stay subbed. My kids primary console is his Series S, and I enjoy playing the exclusives, when they release.

Already cancelled, will look into it again once starfeild and forza motorsport is released

@SplooshDmg I agree I think gamepass is great if you only play on xbox but if you game on multiple systems is it worth it? I mean is
Any subscription worth it not just gamepass? I tend to subscribe when a game I want to play hits but then cancel once completed or if I don’t like it( seems to be more of the latter tbh)

How exactly does the workaround, well, work?

I’m not sure. I’m weighing my options since I don’t play online on my Xbox as I used to.

@Artois2 Honestly, that's really the problem. I think if I had nothing but an Xbox console, it'd be a no brainer. But trying to spread my time out across a PC, Switch and PS5, it just really makes it hard to justify any of these subscriptions. I was looking through PS+ earlier, and sure there are some good games there, but I went right back to playing Tokyo Mirage Session on Switch that I paid $30 for.

What really gets me on PS and Switch is the need to pay for the basic sub for cloud saves. I'll do that for Nintendo, but Sony I'm not so sure. I have a pretty hard time justifying paying Sony $45 a year to have the privilege to have cloud saves for the three PS5 games I play each year.

For me a mild price increase isn't bad so long as it doesn't become a trend and the quality of offerings stays consistent.

@SplooshDmg for me it might even come down to how many 1st parties ms releases for me and if Starfield works on GeForce now. If it will, 1 year of the 4080 plan is now cheaper than gp by $4, so sf and a year if gf now would only cost the price of the game to get it 60fps.

If it's actually allowed on Now though.

@NEStalgia Should be. Phil said at the trial yesterday all Xbox games are going to GeForce Now regardless of whether ABK closes or not.

But honestly, right now, the only ones I know of that are must haves for me are Starfield, Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, Fable, and Clockwork Revolution. Probably whatever id is cooking up too. But the thing is, I'm pretty patient. There aren't many games I'm so excited for that I have to play day one. I'd almost just rather wait for sales and get them on Steam. I could buy Starfield for Steam on CDKeys for $58 right this second. PC games are basically always cheaper at launch due to third party sites selling lower.

@GeeEssEff this is exactly how I feel. I haven’t hardly played my XSX at all this year. I won’t sub again until Forza Motorsport. And even then I’m only going to sub for a month to try it and if it’s great I’m just going to buy it and cancel again. I do have have a sub to PS + premium and ive found that enough for me.

@Fishticon wait....if it's not a cult why did i have to drink green Kool-Aid????

I'm conflicted to what version I will keep for this year.

I have SF6 on Xbox which throws a wrench into it.
Starfield 30fps on console means I'm playing on GamePass for PC only.

Kind of bums me that SF6 wasn't crossboy for PC Xbox app now. I'd rather just pay $9 a month for PC GamePass only but I need gold at least on Xbox to play SF6 online. Ughhhhhhhh

@SplooshDmg mmmmmm....4080...... See that could get me to drop gp. Same price and instead of tons of games I get glorious 60... That's a hard call. Way cheaper than building a PC. Way cheaper than just the 4080 by itself.

Wish it had cross save. I'd definitely go with now. Thing is I think now is the only way I'd ever touch pc again. Gpu prices are high and at 200 a year for now after 3 years the GPU is obsolete and your still paid less than having bought one lol. Heck, if pro consoles are a thing now is still cheaper!

I'm not sure I'll bite, but I'm at least tempted. Bond can shove her "nobody plays cloud". That was before Todd had a "vision" of 30fps

@NEStalgia GeForce Now is pretty sweet. The performance is utterly bananas. Tom Warren has tested the crap out of it, and it's basically the cream of the crop by a country mile. It seems that MS is sort of culling their own cloud ambitions and are essentially making a customer out of Nvidia and getting Nvidia to do all the heavy lifting. With what these data centers cost, it honestly just make more sense for the actual processor manufacturer to build the streaming side. Azure is one thing, but building these Xbox server racks is something totally different, and it sounds expensive.

@Darude84 it can't be done if you have ultimate running ,wait for it to run out /cancel

Sucks but it happens everywhere. All the streaming services do it.

@Moonglow I know they opened it up some finally, but I know for sure that Skyrim Script Extender isn't compatible with the Windows Store version of Skyrim, which is a dependency for a lot of Skyrim mods. So, it does have mod support, but I can't really call it full mod support because some mods are still written only for Steam, and in this case, it's a huge one. Vortex will detect Windows Store versions of games now, and a lot of mods do work, but imo it's just still nowhere close to Steam.

@SplooshDmg It's a little weird how ms kind of backtracked on their own cloud stuff but hilarious that it went from Nvidia filing a concern with the abk suit to going "ohh....oooooohhh... Wet get it yep ram the merger through fast please!"

Really, cross save is everything for this to all work. I'd love too play starfield on Now then play with it on Xbox for a while and back. Having to choose where I start it because my save is stuck there sucks. If I start on Xbox that's it, no 60fps no mods. If I start on Now that's it I'm stuck on now to forever play (or just steam) . IDK I'm probably stick to Xbox for this one really for that reason and convenience but now just send perfect for it

@Martsmall I cancelled the automatic billing and the date has passed (I can’t access GP anymore). I don’t know if this “pause” is enough though or that I should cancel my subscription altogether.

@Alpha_Pulse this is what I ended up doing. Picked up AC Valhala in a sale, bought Jedi Survivor. I've learned I'd rather focus on one game without feeling I have to rush through to maximise my gamepass subscription.

And so many older games out there in an pick up for not so much cash.

I stopped months ago, because... BACKLOG, you know. It was just impossible, for me, to continue like that.
And I'm still playing mainly on Xbox. But too many games, man. And not enough time.

Also, I plan to buy Starfield. I want to buy that one. Not rent it.

I honestly don’t see any value in gamepass, there’s nothing that appeals to me. I’ve got the Xbox games I want to play and the new games look lame

@Darude84 cancel it altogether, u wont need it after as u will have however long you buy
Hit me up on Xbox if you need help
Gt same as my name

@Martsmall It worked! My subscription already was ended automatically after I stopped the recurring billing it seems. I now have bought 36 months of GP Ultimate for € 102.

@Darude84 there u go 😄

I'll still be subscribed. In fact, I'll probably need more space for my Series X after all these awesome games come out later this year.

I've already pre-installed Starfield, Forza, and Cities Skylines II.

A small £2 increas for all this content compared to almost £60-70 per title is nothing to me.

@Jontargh yeah there’s loads of dirt cheap games now so it sometimes saves you a lot of money. I think my backlog of games is bigger than gamepass currently so these subs are not helping me through my pile of shame… if anything they add to it…

@NEStalgia Yeah, I definitely think MS basically just tossed Nvidia the keys to cloud gaming and that was that. Apparently MS gave Nvidia a somewhat different agreement than the smaller platforms like Boosteroid, but those details weren't really elaborated on publically. (I don't think)

Real deal mod support is kinda limited on GFN too, from what I understand. I believe all you can really work with is what is available through Steam Workshop. Which isnt exactly... Great. You'd basically still just be limited to whatever modding is available through the game itself, because the Steam Workshop stuff for Bethesda basically doesn't exist.

Are you actually going to play it on Xbox, tho? I thought the unhallow 30fps was going to purge your eyes from your skull?

@Alpha_Pulse I really love dirt cheap games. I mentioned to someone above that I've been playing Pillars of Eternity (on Game Pass), which really only runs anywhere between $5-10 depending on the platform and edition. I just picked up Dragons Dogma on Switch for $4.99. Before you know it, you have a backlog piled as high as a skyscraper, AND subscriptions to contend with. It's almost like it's all part of their nefarious scheme...

@SplooshDmg Dragons Dogma is an excellent RPG! Yeah I’ve seen Pillars as low as £2 or less on Steam!

Meh, my GP sub is run through my ISP as an add-on, what's a couple dollars more.

It's £2 a month extra, so I can't say I care. I pay way more for Virgin Media yet spend far more time on my Xbox

I subscribe for 30 days whenever I feel like it (subscribing long term would be a bad idea because I also have a PS5 and a Switch, which need some attention, and frankly deserve it a lot more than my Xbox does), so I don't even really remember how much it costs. Apparently it's changing from NZ$12.95 to NZ$13.95. Eh, I thought it was already that.

If its fair pricing I will stay, if it goes up by $3, I might be out. I can only play so many indies before I get bored. I want those big Xbox games.

Edit: I saw the price for $17, for 12 months that is $204. I dunno, leaning to subbing for 3 months when all the titles I want to play pile up. I dont mind paying $70 for games as long if its a physical copy.

My answer is the first two options. Does the change affect the US? Let me know by 2026! MS Rewards points turned 3 years into 5.5 and counting...

Regardless, a dollar or two is inconsequential to me.

Let's be real here. Majority of those who pay attention to this website are Xbots (fanboys or Xbox Core), that's why it's called PUREXBOX. The occasion PlayStation fan might stumble across this through his Google Feed but this is a really unknown website compared to IGN, GameSpot, GameInformer, Digital Foundry, N4G, VG Chartz,and a plethora of YouTube Channels where people are watching more than reading. So let's get that out of the way. The funny thing with a fanbase, is they CAN manipulate something to make it look like something it really isn't. Back in the day, we used to call it "rigging" something. That means that a single user (based on his pride) can vote several times (through a refresh) numerous times but, he doesn't want to get caught so he'll try and balance it out by NOT condemning the subject (because he doesn't want it to look bad) but he'll ride the line so to feel he's not betraying his own loyalty, to the brand.

There's also a possibility a PlayStation fanboy could come along and play the same game. He's not going to OVERTAKE the most popular answer, but he'll disrupt it so as not to blow HIS OWN cover. If he feels it's safe enough, he just might barely tip the scale in the negatives favor but, again, this is an Xbot website so, he's not gonna do that and reveal himself a sham.

So, now that we've established that this is an XBOX DEDICATED SITE (neutrality serves you best in the public eye these days rather than picking sides, if you want to actually make money. Bias doesn't make money as the majority detest fanboys). Now that we know that, a fanbase site is biased so it really doesn't matter what the poll results say here. Majority of the responses one gets are one that's loyal to the brand and can't bear to see it's fate slide by the wayside. (It's okay, don't feel bad, these sort have existed since SEGA entered the market to challenge Nintendo and it's been around forever and on ALL sides, even in the Sony and Nintendo camps to this day.

What's really going to matter is the average consumer (those who don't care and take place in something like this, they just want to play games) and it's THEY whose opinion matters. It's not the consumer that hangs around the message boards or on websites like this or a Pure PlayStation, if one even exists.

Yes, it's your average consumer that's going to make the difference and who Microsoft has to somehow sell on the idea. If the average guy that just goes to work and comes home and wants to play Call of Duty, Halo, Madden, Fortnite, Overwatch, or something to that effect, they aren't going to want to pay $15/mn just to play Madden they buy once a year and play as much as they want. THEN, you have the consumer who is fortunate enough to own all three consoles and a PC. To this consumer, they're a genius because what matters who wins between Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo is revolting to them, THEY want to win the console wars. As long as the three are warring, it's him that wins because he gets stellar games versus only being loyal to one, but even HE, has to pick and choose so he's picking between three consoles a variety of experiences. Game Pass could be his best investment because he plays that many games. There's others who say it's flooded with arcade type games and that's not what they're into and not worth the monthly fee when all he wants to do is play online and PlayStation is $60/yr OR even better, he can play online on his PC for FREE. (Honestly, PC is the way to go in that regard because it's still free to play online and it's the ONLY platform to still have that service. Microsoft and Sony are too greedy. Sony has increased and upped their service only to compete with Xbox, but most PlayStation consumers don't care, they'll do what they need to to keep if free if they could, but it's not an option.
No, it's those consumers who tip the scales, not brand loyalists that seek out console specific websites. I'm sorry. Again, neutral organizations win because their customer base is always going to feel good they're being catered to and make them feel like they're winning and making the best decisions, while someone who sees different lly simultaneously feels the same way. That's customer service and treating your customers like they're your priority. That's whose gonna matter. I'm just saying. You've for a whole mess of Xbox fans flicking here and desperately trying to save a console (that lets be real, is struggling, and Xbox admitted themselves as a last ditch effort to acquire one of the biggest, if not biggest, publishers in the gaming business. I'm sorry

On a separate note, Id think Xbox is going to find a way to eliminate this buying ahead, that's not what they want so, enjoy it while you can. PlayStation nixed their loss of consumers piling subscription years. I had to years stacked and Sony took away a full year subscription of mine. Microsoft loses money that way. So, enjoy it while you can for those who have multiple years. Xbox is gonna shut that down before too long as they're seeing a steady need to increase the costs. Sure they made a lot all at once in that moment, but in the long term, they lost money

I will begrudgingly stay subbed as I think the value is still there. I'm good until early next year with GPU at least. There's ways to get it cheaper, but I think that mightn't work if you're already paid up for a while.

@belmont Here's a question. If you buy more subscription now at the current price, will it not start from where your current subscription ends? Allowing you to make a saving ahead of the price rise?

@neoxmahi Hi.
I'm new to XBox, having been a Playstation gamer since PS1 days. I'd say that in time, most of us get over the 'Fanboy' phase. For me it's always been about two, maybe three factors, what I can afford compromise, sticking with what works for me. Now I have the time and money I'm getting and Xbox X and I'll be buying a 36 month sub to Game pass.
I'm not too bothered by 'Fanboy'ism here. Most people here seem to be fairly level headed folk.
Gaming is first and foremost about having some fun, not going off on some flaming rant. Which I guess could be a laugh for others who don't take such nutters seriously.

You can find it significantly cheaper on Ebay. I used xbox live gold to get three years so yeah, maybe in 2026 if they stop people being able to get it cheaper elswhere I'll let it lapse. Gotta say Gamepass' game offerings have been slipping quite a bit lately. All the games I want to play wound up on PS+ Extra instead.

@nathanSF Indeed if you buy more time it starts when the current ends.

I just purchased 6 months of Ultimate on CJS Keys for like $45. So I am golden until Jan 2024

I use reward points to sub and and unless they suddenly remove that option I don't plan on actually paying any time soon. So I will stay subbed even on days I don't actually play Xbox games I can still claim everything I need in less than an hour a day. I also have over a year left on my current subscription as I chose to stop the auto renewal for now on adding a month through rewards so I can save for some stuff on the Microsoft store as I currently earn enough points for the equivalent of £15-£20 a month.

I’m a guaranteed customer until March 2026, Microsoft already have my money. If they still offer the Gold to Game Pass 1:1 conversion ratio when it’s time to renew I’ll do again. I will not be paying the premium monthly fee though.

@Kang81 cdkeys they have 3 months of live gold for 10. Remember you must let your active subscription to expire before redeeming the codes.

@SplooshDmg I'm not super worried about mods. The thing is this whole "OMG BETHESDA MODS" thing seemed to have started "after" my time. Like maybe it existed for Morrowind or Oblivion? But I wasn't aware of it, I just played on PC, straight retail. Never modded a thing. I modded Quake 1, 2, Half-Life, never a Bethesda game. But that didn't really get big until Skyrim (or FO3? I played FO3 on PC but never cared for it, I was a FO1/2 fan and without Tim Cain's dark comedy it's just nothing to me. OW and Pentiment is everything Todds FO is not. Maybe Avowed next.)

IDK, if the only way to get the all important "game sucks without it" mods is to play on Steam, and only on steam, and not even streamed through using Steam, for an Xbox game...that's just pathetic really. Then again the last Bethesda game I played on PC came on physical DVDs.... The last game I played on PC, period, game on physical DVDs.

Honestly still haven't decided if I'll keep GP and play on XB, or try Now and stream. Lack of cross-save may keep me on the 30fps because I don't want to start a save in a game like that on a service I'm not certain if I'll use it for the long haul or not, and have my save trapped there. Though I may just have to play the whole thing on the 7" GCloud if it reacts badly with the display. That's what I'm doing with totk. If it had cross-save though, I'd go with Now in an instant.

@nathanSF It's always funny seeing faces from the other sites appear on a different one. I wouldn't even have noticed this isn't where I've always seen you if you hadn't said you were new to XB

@NEStalgia Well, I'm pretty sure MS is working to get the Xbox app working with GeForce Now in some greater or lesser level. So there's the possibility you could drop Game Pass, and just buy Starfield on Xbox/Window Store, then Stream it though GeForce Now. Jury is out on that one until we get more info, but that could maybe be a possible outcome.

@Wheatly was gonna literally say the same. I have til 2026 so im riding damn near this whole console gen out

I literally prepaid 5 years of GP
3 with converting live gold into GPU and 2 with my xbox " all access " purchase💪🏿💪🏿
What price hike?!?!💪🏿😁🤳🏿

@SplooshDmg That would be super cool, but yeah, too much unknown. I.E. would it be the nividia PC version or the XB 30fps slowmo version, would saves cross, will it even exist, etc. If it happens I'm definitely trying it, but we'll see. For now...IDK....trying to go the steam route may just give me a save file nightmare in the long haul vs just....(gag) playing 30fps.

@NEStalgia No, it would be the Windows Store versions, but the Windows Store version should have cross save with Xbox consoles, like other 1st party games do. The whole Xbox Play Anywhere thing. GeForce now is entirely bring your own games. They said a little bit back that certain PC Game Pass games will be available through GeForce Now eventually.

I've been a gamepass subscriber for about 2 years now (I subscribed before I bought my Xbox series S so I could play Halo infinite, the master chief collection, Forza Horizon 5 & gears of war with my little brother. I played via cloud on my Samsung tablet and he played from his Xbone). Now that I've had my series S about a year now I can honestly say game pass ultimate is worth it and then some! I play and try more games now than I ever had before thanks to gamepass!

@SplooshDmg Ahh, yeah, that would be great! I think my plan now then is stick with GP, start on XB, and hope they enable it through GFN eventually so I can get a 21st century framerate but not have my saves tied to a service I may or may not use.

@NEStalgia Random, but I just wanna say that I got to the side quest with Tiki=Waifu, and this game really might have been made just for me. Also, TMS: FE Ellie > TLOU Ellie. Not even close.

@SplooshDmg I TOLD YOU SO!

Honestly gamepass is worth twice it's price to me. I don't want it too be that high but I wouldn't feel bad paying 20 a month. Still not a lot of money at all for what you get

Gamers unsubscribe because of an extra dollar?

I'll pay the extra £2 a month but I'm not happy about it.

@Casco

Really late reply, but thanks, and I'll keep an eye out for them.

@Kang81 it looks like Microsoft has closed the ability to convert gold to game pass ultimate on a 1:1 ratio now.

@Casco

Thanks for the update. Looks like I missed out.