Xbox Game Pass Might Get a Price Drop

With prices rising across multiple industries, it’s rare that a good or service would be getting a price drop, especially in the video game industry. However, that’s possibly what could happen to Xbox Game Pass with its fresh leadership, according to a new report about Game Pass’ future.

The report from The Information, as noted by IGN, talks about new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and her plans for the subscription service. According to people who claimed to have spoken to the new gaming executive, Sharma wants to “make future consoles and products like Game Pass more enticing to a broader range of customers,” something that might involve “revamping pricing models to offer lower-priced tiers.”

The report also notes how Sharma has allegedly met with Netflix CEO Greg Peters and the two have “kicked around ideas” for subscription bundle. These would likely bundle some form of Netflix together with Xbox Game Pass, a practice common with video streaming services like HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, and Paramount+. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate already contains an EA Access membership, so this wouldn’t even be the first time Xbox has partnered with other services for Game Pass.

The Information also mentioned how Sharma met with indie game developers and other gaming executives to reassure them that she was trying to expand Xbox and not kill it. This calls back to a recent quote from former Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley, as he talked about how he saw Sharma as being a sort of palliative care nurse for the Xbox brand.

There Are Already Many Xbox Game Pass Tiers

The report does not detail what exactly Sharma has in mind to make Xbox Game Pass more affordable. A few video streaming services have tiers supported by ads and there are multiple other services like Tubi that are entirely supported by advertisements. It’s unclear how this would pertain to Xbox Game Pass, but, given Xbox’s penchant for putting ads everywhere, it’s possible Xbox would find a way. It’s also possible that there would be another cheaper tier that only includes cloud streaming.

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It’s also unclear how much more Game Pass would be divided up. There are currently four tiers of Game Pass: Xbox Game Pass Essential, Xbox Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. These are priced at $9.99, $14.99, $16.49, and $29.99 per month, respectively. Essential only gives players access to a fraction of the catalogue on Xbox and no day-one games, while Ultimate has the full breadth of titles across PC and Xbox, access to EA Play and Ubisoft+ Classics, and more. It seems incredibly unlikely Xbox would cut the current prices without changing anything, especially given the reported 30% profit margin the division has to hit.

Whatever form this supposed price cut comes in, it would be a complete change from Xbox’s whole plan over the past few years. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate jumped from $9.99 in June 2017 to $14.99 two years later and to $16.99 three more years later. It went up to $19.99 in 2024 and leapt to $29.99 in 2025, a sharp increase that, unsurprisingly, wasn’t received well by players. This latest Game Pass hike came around the time when the company also jacked up the price of the Xbox Series X|S twice in one calendar year; once in May and another time in October. Given how global conflicts, misguided tariffs, the hardware-related turmoil caused by AI companies haven’t calmed down, it’s unlikely these cost-related fluctuations will stop, which is what makes this story about Game Pass somehow receiving a price cut something to keep an eye on.

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