Xbox Exec on Game Pass Changes: 'Price Increases are Never Fun for Anybody' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 October 2025 / 3,122 Views
Microsoft this week announced a range of changes to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service that include the Ultimate tier seeing a price increase from $20 per month to $30 per month, a 50 percent increase.
Dustin Blackwell, the director of gaming and platform communications at Microsoft, speaking with The Verge said that an increase in price is "never fun," but the team added more value.
"We understand price increases are never fun for anybody, but we’re trying to reinforce by adding more value to these plans as well," said Blackwell. "It’s something we don’t take lightly, and we’re listening to the feedback of players and the community to try to provide them with more of what they’re asking for."
He added, "We're also now giving access to more than 75 day one releases each year. That's a 50 percent increase over the day one titles we provided last year."
The higher price in the Ultimate tier does include some new content like Ubisoft+ Classics and Fortnite Crew, however, fans are not happy as many have stated they won't be taking advantage of the new content.
Blackwell states that "Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics, those combined add about $28 a month in value to Ultimate subscribers."
Game Pass Essential and Game Pass Premium do offer more benefits than before at the same price as they now include PC games and Xbox Cloud Gaming. PC Game Pass, which includes day one games, also saw a price increase from $12 per month to $16.50 per month.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Not true, their fun for people who own shares. :vl
Then you should have simply added an extra tier with that extra "value".
"we’re listening to the feedback of players and the community to try to provide them with more of what they’re asking for." . No one was asking for Vbucks for fornite to be included, 100%. No one was asking for Streaming 1440p. This is just a BS answer. The only reason they included those, was to excuse the price hike.
I honestly wished companies would drop their pale PR yada yada.
It's almost 2026.
I don't get it why they're still under the impression people would go like "Oh, that's right, aha, I see. So we were asking for it. It's been the community's feedback since 2020 they say. And they've listened!"
Over and over again.
Although I don't have much of it, it's insulting my intelligence and these statements simply are second-hand embarrassing.
You're more intelligent than the average person. They aren't speaking to us. They are speaking to them. That's why it will continue forever. Most believe it.
I think there's a total misconception in many management floors.
In their spare time, they speak clearly.
But once they're sitting behind their desk at work again, they somehow fall into that "Oh, I have to inflate the language now, because whatever!"
Instead of just telling the people "We can't sustain the service/content level without price adjustments."
Simple. Short. Honest.
It's simple short-sided greed.
Imagine this instead: We at team Xbox understand that it's getting harder and harder to afford things in these troubled, economical times. So we have decided to drop the prices on our consoles by fifty dollars, first party games by ten dollars, and the price of Game Pass by five in order to help lessen the burden. Gamers are the most loyal customers in the world, and we would not be where we are today without them, so this is our way of giving back and saying thanks. Enjoy friends, and take care of yourselves.
If they had done that, even for a year or so... imagine what would have happened. Just imagine.
Yes, completely agree.
Managements totally underestimate the hype that generosity can cause (and with it a significant bump in good PR).
Especially in the gaming community.
I guess MS is not going to alter the course. Sending that other employee to be the sacrificial lamb also shows how Phil, Matt and Sarah are spinless cowards; still hiding I guess.
Sorry, 3 trillion dollars company, I haven't considered that.
Almost 4 trillion!
I agree. No fun = no money from me
Cut to majority shareholders laughing in their moneybaths.
Oh please, you ain't fooling anyone except for that group of you know what
Always feel like this kinda statement is a very much "Read the room." situation. sometimes best to just not say anything and let it play out.
EDIT: will note, apparently this interview was done before the price rises went live. They already knew their response.
Are they pretending this wasn't the plan all along? To firmly corner the GaaS subscription market and then start jacking up the price? Because I don't think anyone will believe it wasn't.
