Apr 23, 2026 · 1 hr 8 min · 23 segments
Microsoft has walked back its wild 50% Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price increase from six months ago...mostly. We discuss the bold change and what it means moving forward. Plus: our favorite games from…
Michael HighamPanelist
Ryan McCaffreyHostMiranda SanchezPanelistUm, yes and no, because I think adjusting the cost of one of your products is something we've seen for a long time.
Um, obviously, it usually goes up, but for games and other, like, consoles, devices, you tend to see them, you know, go down over time.
Obviously, that's not gonna be the case with Game Pass, but I think this is obviously a reaction to the fact that they...
You know? It was, it was just a really bad move for them to raise it so much, and I think the fact that they have figured out the math behind the scenes, or whatever it is, to make sure that this, this works for them, uh, within the current economic climates is a good thing.
Because it's like, "Look, we made a smart decision," which is make something that people actually wanna pay for.
Because the, I think that's the, the risk with these streaming services, right? Like, in the grand scheme of history of streaming media, it's still, uh, relatively young, right? So they have a lot of room to experiment with how much are people willing to pay, and we see all these other subscription services out there, like, slowly edging forward and forward and forward and seeing how much they can push.
And Game Pass is like, "We're just gonna push really hard, like, really hard," and I think they saw the limits of that.
So, um, I, I would be curious to see at, like y- you know, fly on the wall sort of deal of hearing the talks that happened after they announced it, and how, seeing, like, what the reaction was to...
I'm sure a lot of people unsubscribing from Ultimate, at the very least, because that is so expensive.
Like, so if you only play, say, one game a month, some of those games aren't necessarily $30 either.
So if you're playing games, you know, not even that, you're kinda losing out.
So I think it's, it's weird to say, like, even the gamification of that, like, having to consider is my mo- is the money that I'm paying for this worth what I'm playing? You know, and having to, like, you know, plan it out in that way is, like, kind of a bummer to have to do.
So I think them, again, like, as you m- mentioned, Ryan, this isn't back to where it was-Um, it is still at least $3 more, so I did the thing.
Like, it's eas- uh, not a fun pill to swallow, but a little bit easier in, um, just a few dollars rather than 10.
Um, yes and no, because I think adjusting the cost of one of your products is something we've seen for a long time.
Um, obviously, it usually goes up, but for games and other, like, consoles, devices, you tend to see them, you know, go down over time.
Obviously, that's not gonna be the case with Game Pass, but I think this is obviously a reaction to the fact that they...
You know? It was, it was just a really bad move for them to raise it so much, and I think the fact that they have figured out the math behind the scenes, or whatever it is, to make sure that this, this works for them, uh, within the current economic climates is a good thing.
Because it's like, "Look, we made a smart decision," which is make something that people actually wanna pay for.
Because the, I think that's the, the risk with these streaming services, right? Like, in the grand scheme of history of streaming media, it's still, uh, relatively young, right? So they have a lot of room to experiment with how much are people willing to pay, and we see all these other subscription services out there, like, slowly edging forward and forward and forward and seeing how much they can push.
And Game Pass is like, "We're just gonna push really hard, like, really hard," and I think they saw the limits of that.
So, um, I, I would be curious to see at, like y- you know, fly on the wall sort of deal of hearing the talks that happened after they announced it, and how, seeing, like, what the reaction was to...
I'm sure a lot of people unsubscribing from Ultimate, at the very least, because that is so expensive.
Like, so if you only play, say, one game a month, some of those games aren't necessarily $30 either.
So if you're playing games, you know, not even that, you're kinda losing out.
So I think it's, it's weird to say, like, even the gamification of that, like, having to consider is my mo- is the money that I'm paying for this worth what I'm playing? You know, and having to, like, you know, plan it out in that way is, like, kind of a bummer to have to do.
So I think them, again, like, as you m- mentioned, Ryan, this isn't back to where it was-Um, it is still at least $3 more, so I did the thing.
Like, it's eas- uh, not a fun pill to swallow, but a little bit easier in, um, just a few dollars rather than 10.
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