Xbox Game Pass Has Entered its Enshittification Era

Xbox Game Pass remains one of the best deals in gaming, but it is getting worse. This week, Microsoft completely upended its pricing structure for its game subscription service, making everything more expensive and confusing in equal measure. We’ve seen enough apps and streaming services go down this road to know this is a bad sign. Once you start raising prices and restricting common features, you’re already on the path toward enshittification.

With just a few emails sent to Game Pass customers, Microsoft generated a wave of confusion surrounding its new price hike. Even with an FAQ, Microsoft struggled to clarify who gets what under their new payment scheme. At the top of the list, Microsoft is doing away with Game Pass for Console entirely for any new members wishing to sign up after July 10. Starting that same date, new Game Pass customers were now required to pay more per subscription. 

U.S.-based customers paying for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will see a $3 increase to $20 a month. It will be $15 more annually if you’ve opted for Game Pass Core. PC Game Pass is going from $10 to $12 a month. There’s a new tier called Xbox Game Pass Standard for $15 a month. But that won’t be available until sometime down the road. That tier is effectively replacing Game Pass for Console. 

After Sept. 12, existing members will see the new prices reflected on their monthly bill.

Are you confused yet? We’re not done. Microsoft is changing the expectations of what you’ll receive depending on your subscription tier. Game Pass Ultimate remains the only tier to allow cloud gaming, but if you opt for the cheaper Game Pass Standard option, you won’t expect any day-one first-party games as the previous Game Pass for Console tier did. So, remember how Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Game Pass? If you’re new to Game Pass, you’ll need to be paying for PC Game Pass or Ultimate to have it on release.

If you still have Game Pass for Console or PC Game Pass, you’ll continue to receive day-one games. Game Pass Core is still the most basic level, mostly there to access online multiplayer, but Standard seems like a pretty lousy deal compared to what you get now. Unless you sign up for Ultimate, you won’t have access to day-one games on either Xbox Series X or Series S.

The new tier structure is ludicrous. It expects new and existing customers to parse a whole range of bullet points to understand exactly what they’re paying for. You can’t simply pay for Game Pass, you have to pay for the right version of Game Pass. Netflix may be devolving its tier structure by removing the Basic subscription while forcing users on either Netflix with Ads or Standard, but at least you have access to the same content no matter what. That can no longer be said for Game Pass.

What Does this Mean for Game Pass’ Future?

As a reminder for those in the back row, “enshittification” is a word coined by tech blogger Cory Doctorow to describe how apps and services screw over users to benefit the company and investors before inevitably turning around and abusing those same investors. The term has gotten a lot of mileage in the past few years. You can see it with some of the most popular social media apps. If you’ve struggled with digital concert tickets or restaurant reservations, you’ve experienced the results of enshittification. 

Enshittification isn’t inevitable, though it is consistent. Microsoft has been pushing Game Pass for a few years now, so much so it has started to look like its hardware has taken a back seat. During its last big games showcase, Microsoft’s big hardware release for the first half of 2024 was a more expensive Xbox Series X with 1 TB storage.

According to The Verge’s Tom Warren quoting anonymous sources, Microsoft is scaling back Xbox sales in Europe. We know the Redmond, Washington tech giant has tried to push Game Pass hard, even hinting it would try to get it on competing consoles. Last week, Amazon and Microsoft declared you could now play cloud gaming titles through a few Fire TV sticks, meaning you don’t necessarily need a smart TV or computer to access the Xbox app and play the wide selection of streaming titles. Xbox head Phil Spencer hit on the central theme with the news, tweeting “No console? Don’t be scared.”

But all that expansion hasn’t seemed enough to claw back some of the $69 billion spent on the Activision Blizzard buyout. The company laid off close to 2,000 staff from its newly-purchased studios earlier this year. There was the promise of seeing Call of Duty come out on Game Pass, but now that will be restricted depending on how much you’re willing to pay Microsoft every month.

Despite all that, Game Pass is still very, very good. Its cloud service is very smooth, and the title selection is one of the best among game subscription services. Though at $20, it now has to compete with the likes of Nvidia’s GeForce Now Ultimate, which has higher stated graphical quality with better bitrates. Game Pass is currently better than Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscription service. PlayStation Plus also increased in price last year, with execs blaming “market conditions” for the move. Game Pass Ultimate is $2 more monthly than PlayStation Plus Premium.

Streaming services have continuously increased fees across the board. What seems inevitable is that Microsoft and Sony will eventually demand players pay even more for their games. But what if it’s worse than that? Game Pass needs loads more subscribers to be a viable replacement for a pure hardware business and recoup losses from the Activision Blizzard deal. If Microsoft can’t make those returns, a worse service seems inevitable. Like streaming, the only outcome is a race to the bottom.