Posted 21 June 2023

Xbox Game Pass Price Goes Up From August And Increase Price On Xbox Series X Console

From August game pass ultimate price goes up from £10.99 to £12.99 or just console game pass from £7.99 to £8.99.


Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: Brace yourselves for a price hike on the horizon!

theverge.com/202…ase
Community Updates
Dan_82's avatar
If you've not seen, Microsoft are hiking the price of Xbox Series X and the Xbox Game Pass, in most Countries, including the UK. So if you're looking at grabbing an Xbox Series X or Game Pass, now might be the time to grab it at a cheaper price.

“We’ve held on our prices for consoles for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market,” says Kari Perez, head of communications for Xbox, in a statement to The Verge.

Whats the pricing of the Console?

Xbox Series X console pricing will largely match the price hike Sony announced for the PS5 last year, with the Xbox Series X moving to £479.99 in the UK, €549.99 across most European markets, CAD $649.99 in Canada, and AUD $799.99 in Australia starting August 1st. The Xbox Series S pricing will not be adjusted in any markets, remaining at $299.99.

When will the price increase start?

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for Console pricing will increase starting July 6th. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will move from $14.99 per month to $16.99 (€14.99 / £12.99). The base Xbox Game Pass for Console pricing will also move from $9.99 a month up to $10.99 (€10.99 / £8.99). Microsoft is not changing PC Game Pass pricing, though.

If you’re an existing Game Pass monthly subscriber, then these new recurring prices won’t take effect until August 13th, or September 13th in Germany. New Xbox Game Pass members will see the new prices immediately on July 6th. If you’re subscribed to Xbox Game Pass through a yearly code, the new pricing won’t take effect until you go to renew your subscription.

Most markets will be affected by the Xbox Game Pass price increases, with the exception of some Game Pass console pricing which will remain the same in Norway, Chile, Denmark, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.


64390-25C43.jpg
Microsoft hasn’t changed its Xbox Game Pass pricing since launching the subscription in 2017, and the company is keen to stress this isn’t related to its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. “These Game Pass price adjustments are not related to the Activision Blizzard deal, and are intended to match local market conditions,” says Perez.


Keep an eye out for Xbox Series X Deals here and Xbox Game Pass Deals here
New Comment

207 Comments

sorted by
's avatar
  1. tds09k's avatar
    It's worth looking out on other service providers who also provide the Ultimate Game Pass.

    For instance, BT have still kept the price to £10.00 a month. I get mine via BT. I admit, it's not a big difference, but at the end of the day, this is almost £12 cheaper than what Microsoft charges. (edited)
    McShane's avatar
    Buying XBL codes and converting a lot cheaper. Around £80 for 3 years compared to £360 at BT or £467 at Microsoft under the new price. Paying monthly is not the way. (edited)
  2. shasnir's avatar
    Just 'Some' of the games coming to Gamepass between now and the end of October.

    Starfield. (AAA 1st party Exclusive)

    Forza Motorsport (AAA 1st party Exclusive)

    Exoprimal. (Day one to Gamepass)

    Lies of P (Day one to Gamepass)

    Payday 3. (Day one to Gamepass)

    The Lamplighters League. (Day one to Gamepass)b

    Cities Skylines 2. (Day one to Gamepass)

    Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (Day one to Gamepass)


    Amazing value.
    Piranha_Plant's avatar
    AAA seems too much excitement for me… are there any single A or B games?
  3. andywedge's avatar
    Hi
    Are you sure you are correct with August as the article says July 6th?
    Thanks

    "Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for Console pricing will increase starting July 6th"
    "If you’re an existing Game Pass monthly subscriber, then these new recurring prices won’t take effect until August 13th, or September 13th in Germany. New Xbox Game Pass members will see the new prices immediately on July 6th."
    Scenicblur's avatar
    I went to buy a month of GPU today (6th July), after redeeming my Gold codes, and the price is already £12.99 - Wish I'd noticed, sooner.
    (Currys/PCWorld are still selling 1 month for £10.99, same as Argos, although it isn't clear whether the Argos one is stackable or not).
  4. GrabbyFeet's avatar
    Just be careful with MS rewards if redeeming from other territories as I have just been either suspended or banned from the rewards after redeeming an Argentine Diablo 4 code. I can't get an answer from MS if it's permanent but I can't redeem my points for anything and can't even donate them to charity. Luckily I only had about £20 on there.
    reddragon105's avatar
    I got suspended for using a VPN years ago - it lasted for 12 months. I've since been using it for a few years and bought a Series X plus many months of GPU with it.

    So I'd say check back every few months or so and hopefully you'll regain access at some point.
  5. catchya's avatar
    Prefer to buy the game on disc. Whats the point to have access to 100 games when you only play 2 or 3 fully. The more people atop buying the game pass, the more they will decrease the price.
    Stockport_saver's avatar
    Personally, I have had an xbox series S for just under 18 months. My son has downloaded many games but mostly played Fifa 22 and 23, whilst I have dabbled in many titles and "completed" at least four or five games in that time. Using various deals and offers I've probably spent less than £80 on games pass, which has been excellent value for money to my mind. I rarely revisited narrative games in the past, so this has been a win for us.
  6. tjc2005's avatar
    Yes I was about to make a topic asking about how us with current ultimate subs can top it up for cheap for the next few years with gold?

    Is this possible? Or do we have to wait for out ultimate to expire?
    MonkeyMan90's avatar
    Don't top up whilst it's still active otherwise 1 year good only converts to GPU 3 months. You have to let it expire
  7. afz394's avatar
    Not surprising. Forza motosport and Starfield both will release day 1 on game pass.
    deleted2810965's avatar
    That was the promise of GamePass from start..they didn’t deliver,with just 2-3 AAA titles in total and rest of the library are old games,low/budget indie titles.. (edited)
  8. gadgetsgalore's avatar
    buy a bottle of lucozade, they have a months free pass code prize on QR code on bottles.
    Piranha_Plant's avatar
    It that on every bottle or just a chance of winning it?
  9. JustToPost's avatar
    Maybe a silly question, but I don’t have an Xbox and want the game pass for PC instead. Is this the same thing? What’s the cheapest way to get a few years of the PC game pass these days?
    orangepants's avatar
    It is basically the same thing and unless you want to use the Cloud gaming service then all you would need is PC Game Pass.

    I also don't have an XBox. When I first started with PC Game Pass, I took out the month's trial period and then started completing the various tasks on the Microsoft Rewards site every day. I think I may have paid for another month at full price (back in the days when it was only £3.99 a month!), but by that point I'd earned enough Rewards points to redeem 3 months of PC Game Pass and now I just rinse and repeat.

    I've been using PC Game Pass since 2019 and haven't paid for it since - I am currently paid up until the end of the year with enough points to buy another 6 months worth of PC Game Pass. I know some people might think it is more hassle than it is worth, but for something that takes less than five minutes a day that I can do in the morning whilst I drink my coffee, I think it is a good deal that I'm going to carry on rinsing at least until this price rise kicks in.

    I would like to redeem my additional points now before the price rise, but earlier in the year I did the trick of converting to Game Pass Ultimate so that I could use the XBox Cloud service on Steam Deck, so I don't think redeeming another six months of PC Game Pass will convert to Ultimate at a 1:1 ratio.
  10. Lil6ix's avatar
    total snakes
    reddragon105's avatar
    What?
  11. andrewworrall1's avatar
    Shame about price increase but glad PC Game Pass isn't increasing price at least for now. I occasionally have it for one month at a time - if there's enough games I want to play then it's worth it. Some months I'm not in the mood for what's on it so I let the subscription be inactive.
  12. Kazloav's avatar
    My ''Xbox Game Pass Premium 2yrs'' finished over a month ago, as with most i brought it at a much reduced price and is excellent value, you get a vast ever changing library, with great streaming and a nice choice of retro titles, but for me i just wasn't getting the use out of it. Secondly i enjoy modding and found MS's encryption on PC a limiting factor especially MSFS. I much prefer buying my Digital Games on EPIC/Steam as its not so restrictive. Saying that, Game Pass Premium otherwise is a great service and value for money atm.
  13. cryptomuzz's avatar
    Worth checking out this step by step guide to convert gold, get cheap codes and save a ton of money! I followed it and it worked perfectly so I’ve got ultimate for the next 3 years for the price of 1 - How to Convert Xbox LIVE Gold to GAME PASS ULTIMATE Subscriptions in 2023!
  14. lmulli's avatar
    I paid for a few years in advance when I first got my Series X. I don't use it, so once it runs out, I won't be renewing. Lots of games, but I only dabble in one or two, and I purchased them on release.

    Not sure if they still do it, but when I signed up, they were allowing you to convert a Gold membership to the Game Pass as a new customer at no extra cost, hence why I purchased a few years worth :-)
    Royvedas's avatar
    I think I know what you mean. The so-called "Best deal in gaming" is for many not the best deal in gaming at all. I also only have it because of the cheap 3 year conversion. I have rarely used it. I rarely play games these days as I am getting older and have other priorities. Having a running subscription with mostly so-so filler makes no sense - even if I was playing more games, I would probably go for a curated experience, rather than the discount buffet. I am not renewing either. Still I understand it is great for some or something. To be honest I hate almost any kind of subscription. (edited)
  15. Tuta's avatar
    I tried this service, I got terrible latency issues so gave up on GP entirely. Could be related to playing on Windows 10? I don't know...
    Glockage's avatar
    I've had gamepass since it launched. I play on xbox and pc. I have no such issues.
    So definitely something on your end.
  16. Lil6ix's avatar
    paid £350 for my xbox about 18 months ago.. no way is it worth £475 lol.
    herrbz's avatar
    How do you figure?
  17. aLV426's avatar
    I wonder how long it will be before we get to see the family pass?
    Also reward points have been further clamped down on - you can't use them against the Design lab store and you can;t use a VPN to collect points from more than one location per day.
    I guess it was only a matter of time. Still deliberating as to wether or not I need a 3rd ulrimate account...
    xtreamxtc's avatar
    Yeah I'm with you on this. Not only have they clamped down on the rewards but I seem to be getting less and less points. I wonder how much it'll be to redeem points for GPU when the price rise comes in to play. I'm lucky having got two years GPU back in 2020 cheaply using the gold upgrade trick. Since then I've managed keep pace with it by getting three months GPU with reward points, roughly every three months. I can't see that being sustainable with the price increase and reward changes.
  18. cjaz99's avatar
    Game Pass increases make sense just before Starfield.

    The Series X increase is bonkers. CEX have a £75 premium on the PS5 (£445) over the Series X (£370) currently (boxed, obviously used, same gap for unboxed and "discounted").

    At the time Sony's PS5 increase was annoying but understandable, TSMC were increasing costs on the all important SoC and other costs were not falling. A year later the cost of SSDs, RAM and Chinese assembly have tumbled, we should be getting price cuts, not rises.

    For Microsoft to now match the PS5 price, despite the disparity in used value makes me think Microsoft have given up on competing directly on unit sales with Sony and are now targeting fat profits.
    DaveRay's avatar
    The Series X is an expensive piece of kit to make, so I believe Microsoft are still not making a profit on the console. The SSD, for example, is custom, so they're probably not able to gain economies of scale for that as much as Sony with their standard M2 device.

    This generation is about MS trying to claw back some ground after the Xbox One lost them the inertia they'd built up with the 360. Keeping prices as low as they could was obviously part of that strategy.

    Of course the real profit-mongers are Nintendo, who never make a loss on their hardware and keep their game prices high forever. If you want the 5 year-old Breath of the Wild, that's still 50 quid.
  19. Random_Frugal's avatar
    Series X price has increased to match PS5’s new price.

    Also GP price in Turkey has tripled so they clearly are aware of people using that strategy.
    InfoAddict's avatar
    The Turkish Price increase isn't about people region exploiting. I think it's just a reaction to Lira's value. They are basically correcting the value to $ to whatever it was when it launched.
  20. Hugh_Mungo's avatar
    What's currently the cheapest way to get 3 years of gamepass?
    MasterCheese's avatar
    3x 12month Live Gold codes for Turkish region redeemed via VPN at around £25 per year (£75 for 3 years)

    Or

    3x 12month Live Gold codes for UK region at around £35 per year (£105 for 3 years)

    Or wait and see if prices drop or if the super cheap 3 month Live Gold codes come back (they were around £5 each so £20per year/£60 for 3 years).
  21. nibbler12345's avatar
    Not that bad, we've been using it for well over a year now, download, play, delete, find new games to play ect so useful!
  22. crazygoldfish's avatar
    my game pass runs out next year, I havent been impressed with many of the games for a long time so this is just the tip i needed not to renew.
  23. Gztsby's avatar
    I don't get it, 3 year old technology prices are going UP? Is this normal in the console market?
    ibblackberry1's avatar
    Its common for every market, the price of almost everything has went up recently. (edited)
  24. Serpico73's avatar
    Recent Microsoft comments basically waving the white flag in the so called console wars is not very encouraging. Focusing solely on software sale profits to drive the business model is to say the least quite risky given their recent in house AAA games have so far failed to deliver. They must be pinning everything on Starfield being huge. Can see them abandoning the console hardware market and concentrating on PC cross platform releases.
    Hugh_Mungo's avatar
    Historically consoles have been sold at a loss for most of their cycle. Games have always been the money making part (edited)
  25. JimmyBobby's avatar
    Do the current deals for Xbox live expire or can I stock up before the price hike?
  26. David18's avatar
    For those that don’t know, you don’t even need an Xbox to use gamepass, you can play games through a browser. You just need an Xbox controller. 

    Obviously would require a decent internet connection and won’t be great for games where latency is very important like racing or shooting games. But I’ve found it to be perfectly playable for more casual games… me and my wife had a great time using it playing it takes two. I’d highly recommend trying that out with your partner if you want a 2 player game to play together. 
  27. Ted_49's avatar
    Was only matter of time both Micro$oft and $ony need to keep the money coming in as the advertising campaigns don’t pay for themselves you know
  28. JustaSingh's avatar
    For 19.99 you can get EA play or whatever it is called. Plenty of games like FIFA, racing games, shooters etc.

    For me that works, as 90% of my play is fifa (and I'm not too fussed about the latest latest update).

    One thing that did annoy me with Games Pass in the past was that I'd get invested in games and then they would leave games pass (happened to me on Grip, Some assassins creed games, Just Cause, I even think GTA was on there once, as I ended up buying it, so would have tried it somewhere). The EA catalogue stays as is.
  29. Scooby_Doo's avatar
    Still waiting for this illusive Xbox family games pass to launch in the UK.
  30. Ridetofreedom's avatar
    I tried game pass at the start of the year and said I’d try it out for 12 months but already know it’s not for me,I’m a physical copy collector gamer and so with this price rise I’m gonna end it earlier.
    Chiptivo's avatar
    Starfield premium Boxed editions are not going to have a disk...
    How are you feeling about that.

    It's the future, like we listen to music on spotify or USB, not records.

    It all cool, embrace it..
  31. MrsPickleJuice's avatar
    bad time to buy an xbox. i should have chose the all access bundle to get Game Pass cheaper.
  32. sen.wright's avatar
    This 100% is due to the ABK deal and Zenimax purchase, they can deny that all they want.
    shasnir's avatar
    The big Activision deal hasn't gone through so far ? (edited)
  33. royals's avatar
    Bit of a joke given how much dross has been on there for the past year
  34. bornagainst's avatar
    Strange times for gaming. I'd recon we'll see the longest console generation ever - just to try and make the money back. Not even any sign of a cost reduced version yet... Heading towards Xmas with very little interesting / new / cheaper deals...

    I'll stick with the basic Gamepass subscription, but as always, there's a limit to what people will accept.
  35. jasmith85's avatar
    Corporate Greed 101, I've not really enjoyed gamepass for some time. There is the occasional gem on there. (edited)
  36. Connect1000's avatar
    [deleted]
    roadie's avatar
    How do you accumulate?
  37. leeroy_tmofo's avatar
    Surely nobody actually buys a UK sub anyway?
  39. pagehamillton's avatar
    All prices gone up on eBay I was buying for £2.50 a month last year not £5.99 . Any good deals for a year as I only play 2-3 times a month my Xbox s
  40. Smocular's avatar
    Oooof time to start taking up cutting the lawn instead of scrolling gamepass
's avatar