Game Pass Price Reduction Has Helped Grow Subs and Improve Retention - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 28 May 2026 / 3,066 Views
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma in an internal memo to Xbox employees obtained by The Verge revealed growth in Xbox Game Pass slowed and the number of people unsubscribing increased following the 2025 price hike.
The recent price reduction has helped Game Pass once again seen growth and improve retention.
"Growth slowed down and subscriber loss accelerated after the pricing and SKU changes last year," said Sharma. "Since our price reduction we have seen acquisitions grow and retention improve, which is a good first step."
Sharma added turning things around for Xbox will take more than one moment or launch and there is more work that needs to be done.
"We will not solve this in one moment or one launch," said Sharma. "We will have to outwork the problem in front of us in our path to restore durable growth."
She added, "We are building a stronger XBOX. That means making hard choices about what we build, where we invest, and what kind of company we need to be going forward. That is part of what you are starting to see in the shift from Xbox to XBOX. It reflects a decision to be deliberate in how we show up for the players who care most about this brand."
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 to blow all good ideas at once, but they should try to lower the prices of their consoles. I have a hunch at what will happen.
This company always tries to put some positive spin on game pass and it's growth. While at the same time constantly adjusting the price and making radical changes to it. Provide numbers on this growth or just be quiet about it.
Xbox provide actual concrete numbers? But don't you want to know how many people tried Halo Infinite for free?
It's almost like there is a correlation between the price of something and how much it sells? Who would have thought?
Sharma should stop putting journalists in the recipient of her emails by accident, those are leaking like crazy.
How can you believe anything this company says! For years they’ve hidden their numbers and boasted how great Gamepass was doing when it was actually hurting the brand! But just keep on believing in unicorns!!!
Translación: "We managed to recover a few of the people who left"
Forza Horizon 6 is a lifeline for Xbox at the moment. It's a good time to turn things around! Yeah, I agree if they managed to drop the Series X prices a bit that would be a smart move to gain ground and new users / subscribers. Also now's a great time to buy an Xbox, for example here in the UK Xbox physical games are usually much cheaper than PS5 due to less demand. I just bought Bomberman R2 on Xbox for £12 brand new where as PS5 version is £27! (cheapest about)
