85%
Highly Likely
Yet another reliable rumor suggests Microsoft may lower the price of its Game Pass subscription service.
Yesterday, we reported Jez Corden's claim that Microsoft may be considering dropping this year's new Call of Duty game from Game Pass. Today, The Verge's Tom Warren has shared the content of a leaked internal memo penned by new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma.
According to Warren, Sharma made it clear to Xbox employees that there will have to be structural changes to Game Pass:
Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox. It’s also clear that the current model isn’t the final one. Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system which will take time to test and learn around.
Based on this quote, it definitely seems that a price drop is on the way. Indeed, following the massive price hike (+50% in the Ultimate tier) enacted last October, there was a wave of cancellations as consumers widely believed that the subscription service - once thought of as too good to be true - was no longer worth it at $29.99.
The new Chief Executive Officer appears to have finally realised it, though, of course, we'll have to wait and see how much of a cut there will actually be. Would going back to the previous pricing (but without Call of Duty) be acceptable to Game Pass users?
Still, Sharma's memo also hints at a larger restructuring to take place at a later date, with more "flexibility" given to users. Dataminers recently discovered strings that suggest two new tiers could be introduced. Codenamed Triton and Duet, they would reportedly offer a selection of first-party games, such as Doom Eternal, Doom 64, Dishonored 2, Fable Anniversary, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Gears 5, Halo 5 Guardians, Halo Wars 2, Hellblade, Ori and the Blind Forest, Psychonauts, State of Decay 2, Elder Scrolls Online, and some retro classics.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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