this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2026
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We watched this exact same tactic happen with Xbox gamepass over the last 5 years. They introduced it and left in the capability to purchase the "upgrade" for $1/year. Now they are suddenly cranking it up to $30/month and people are still paying it because they feel like it's a service they "have to have".
Small sample but everyone i know dropped it on the increase to 30 bucks. One of them had been primarily playing PlayStation and xbox for the last decade but has gotten and primarily plays steam deck now.
Which is why I've dropped it myself. Not worth the price.
I'm usually too lazy when it comes to canceling things, but I canceled Game Pass right away. $30 per month is just offensive.
Agreed
This recent massive price hike (it fucking doubled) is what got me to cancel my live, completely.
I've been subscribed since 2002, when it first released. So their greed lost a sure stream of income. I'm not alone.
Is it $30/month on top of Xbox gold or does the game pass include it?
It's included, but good lord if that's not a very high price for temporary access to a collection of bargain bin games. You could buy a full price game every other month for that money.
or 3-6 indies on sale - hell if you save up that money you can go nuts every steam/gog same, 360$ should get you around 1k$ games retail price upwards if you are a patient gamer
Edit: and you can KEEP that, not temporary
On top of that, I have personally developed some gaming habits that I don't care for at all as a direct result of gamepass.
Subscriptions are thieves of intentionality
Gold doesn’t exist anymore. Now it’s game pass core or something…the rate went up with that forced “migration”. You do get access to a few “free” games with core, but you gotta pay way more to have the full deal. I think core (which is the cheapest, baseline option) is $70/yr now? (Edit- i just checked my statement, it’s $78.50)
Textbook example of enshittification.