Microsoft lowers Game Pass Ultimate and PC subscription prices

Microsoft said Tuesday that it will lower the cost of subscriptions that include access to hundreds of video games, after the company’s new gaming leader promised to “recommit to our core Xbox fans and players.”

The flagship Game Pass Ultimate service, which allows gamers to download titles on PCs and Xbox consoles and stream games on mobile devices, has been cut to $22.99 per month from $29.99, Microsoft said in a blog post. The more limited PC Game Pass is now $13.99, down from $16.49.

Forthcoming titles in the popular “Call of Duty” franchise will no longer be part of the two subscriptions immediately when they come out. Instead, gamers can buy the titles when they come out — the latest one goes for $69.99 — or wait until release the next holiday season and play older versions in the meantime.

The change represents an attempt to rejigger the Xbox business from Asha Sharma, a former Meta executive who replaced Phil Spencer as Microsoft’s gaming chief in February.

Gaming contributed 7% of Microsoft’s total revenue in the fourth quarter. The unit’s revenue was down around 10% year over year, while the Azure cloud, LinkedIn, Microsoft 365 productivity offerings and Dynamics business software all grew at least 10%. Hardware sales declined 32% after Microsoft canceled the development of the two games, “Everwild” and “Perfect Dark.”

Revenue from Xbox content and services, a metric that excludes hardware sales, came in below internal projections, Microsoft’s finance chief, Amy Hood, said on a conference call. She announced an unspecified impairment charge in the gaming business, which expanded in 2023 with the $75.4 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” publisher Activision Blizzard.

Sharma told employees in a memo that Game Pass had become too expensive, The Verge reported earlier this month. Microsoft pushed up the price of Game Pass Ultimate by $10 to $29.99 a month in October. The company said in 2024 that Game Pass had 34 million subscribers.

“Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we’ve gotten so far,” Microsoft said in Tuesday’s blog post.

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