After rumors coming from a leaked memo pointed to a price decrease coming to Xbox Game Pass, the company confirmed today that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is officially getting cheaper, and will go down from its current rate of $29.99/month to $22.99/month. The PC Game Pass tier is also getting a price deduction, and will be down from $16.49/month to $13.99/month. What's more is that new Call of Duty games will no longer launch into the subscription service, and instead arrive "about a year later."
The news was revealed in a short Xbox Wire blog post, which was followed up by a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Xbox chief executive officer Asha Sharma, who seemingly repeated what was said in the aforementioned memo as she began by saying "Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players."
"Starting today, we're dropping the price," she continued. "We'll keep learning and evolving Game Pass to better match what matters to players."
It's not entirely a surprising move, considering the drop in price and the removal of day-one launches for new Call of Duty games is what was rumored to be happening just weeks before the official confirmation. But what's seemingly shocking is how quickly we're going from a major change like a price decrease go from a rumor to fact.
As Sharma is reportedly personally on the hook for the rebrand of Xbox, this kind of swift action that is ultimately a major shift in Xbox's strategy is exactly the kind of thing Xbox needs to do if it wants to have any hope of winning players' trust.
The prices listed above are in USD, but the decrease is happening on a global scale, so Ultimate subscribers everywhere will likely see the change go into effect with their next billing period. On an annual basis, the new prices mean Ultimate subscribers are saving $84 compared to what they paid before, while PC Game Pass players are saving $30.
That said, there's no mention of any change to the other subscription tiers, meaning that Game Pass Essential and Premium will remain at their current prices. Here's the full breakdown of what each tier now costs:
- Game Pass Essential - $9.99/month
- Game Pass Premium - $14.99/month
- Game Pass Ultimate - New Price - $22.99/month (Old Price: $29.99/month)
- PC Game Pass - New Price - $13.99/month (Old Price: $16.99/month)
It's makes the entire pitch of Game Pass a little more interesting as far as what players can choose from, but it doesn't entirely change the hierarchy of the tiers. PC Game Pass is still by far the best option, now made even better by its price decrease to fall just under Game Pass Premium. Even if you have an Xbox Series console, if all you care about is paying less, then it's probably worth it to just go full-time PC gaming instead of splitting between your computer and your console.
The removal of day-one Call of Duty launches may be disappointing for players who enjoyed not having to drop an annual $70, but it is seemingly the trade Xbox feels it has to make for this price decrease to make sense. We can have a cheaper Game Pass Ultimate subscription or brand-new Call of Duty games on Game Pass day-one. We can't have both, according to Microsoft.
Whether players would be willing to make that trade, and whether they believe these price cuts are enough will determine how this attempt to bring about the 'return of Xbox' will start off. Many will likely see this just as that, a start. If we can see more changes come this quickly, it'll be interesting to see if Sharma can right the ship faster than anyone expected.
For more on Xbox Game Pass, check out our hub page with every game available in the service along with a full breakdown of what each tier gets you, now updated with the new prices.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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