GameFly’s prices are going up, and now another gaming subscription service is raising its prices, too. Xbox has announced that the cost of Game Pass is also going up, in addition to the Xbox Series X in various territories.
Xbox says the Game Pass price increase was to reflect “competitive conditions”
The base price of Xbox Game Pass is going from $9.99 a month to $10.99. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will go from $14.99 a month to $16.99. PC Game Pass is not going up, though.
Current subscribers won’t see the price change take effect until August 13. New subscribers will see new prices on July 6. Yearly subscribers won’t see the new pricing until they renew.
Head of communications for Xbox Kari Perez told The Verge why the prices were jumping and pointed to the broader gaming ecosystem.
“We’ve held on our prices for consoles for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market,” said Perez.
Xbox CEO Phil Spencer hinted in October 2022 that prices wouldn’t hold forever.
“We’ve held price on our console, we’ve held price on games and our subscription. I don’t think we’ll be able to do that forever,” said Spencer. “I do think at some point we’ll have to raise some prices on certain things, but going into this holiday we thought it was really important that we maintain the prices that we have.”
The Xbox Series X is also going up in price in most countries outside of the United States, Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. It will be £479.99 in the UK, €549.99 in many European markets, CAD $649.99 in Canada, and AUD $799.99 in Australia beginning August 1.
Nintendo Switch Online and PlayStation Plus have yet to get more expensive, but both have gotten new and more expensive tiers.
