PS Plus Once Again Priced the Same as Xbox Live After Microsoft Backtrack

@LiterallyDoNotCare There's no need to refer to other people as "fools". I'm sure Xbox owners aren't too happy about a 100% price increase either.

Is Microsoft serious.....? Please tell me that post is an early April Fools joke.

I play on both Playstation and Xbox and whilst this is overpriced taken by itself, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't subscribe to Gamepass anyway. I have mine until the end of this year and my new phone comes with another 12 months included, so for the next 2 years I don't need to pay a penny to play online or have access to 100's of games

@LiamCroft People who buy annual cod and sports games are fools too.

I know some are dissapointed, but a lot of people will defend this to death because gamepass is so great for them (ignoring is not for everyone). If they spend the $120. Cool. Defending that others shouldn't worry about it because it's good. Those are the fools I'm talking about.

100% did that to prevent people from buying like 2 years of Cheap Xbox Gold and then Upgrade to Gamepass Ultimate for basically nothing and way less than the 180$ it usally costs. A lot of people I know used this method lol

@LiamCroft I literally care about me potentially buying an xbox and having to spend $120. Apart from gears 5, I don't see a reason owning xbox live (if I only plan to buy exclusives). So if the price is doubled... $120 to play halo and gears are mostly online games every year?

@LiterallyDoNotCare Gamepass is a fantastic perk for people who want to play a wide variety of games but not shell out for each one. I don't have an Xbox but I do have PS Now and honestly I'm surprised at how good it is as a foundation for a service.

That being said, the fact that it doesn't affect the price of Gamepass Ultimate simply makes it more appealing for people who may get an Xbox in the future as an option instead of just getting Xbox Live Gold - as the article did point out.

Considering the anticipation that this year might ramp up production of the next-gen consoles, I can see the reasoning to doing this ahead of what they might anticipate to be a year full of console sales.

@get2sammyb Is fool a big word to say?

If Sony increased the PSN prices, I think I will build a new PC better than investing in a PS5. The new prices of PS5 games plus an increase in PSN will can buy me a beast of a PC.

@LiterallyDoNotCare you can easily buy 12 month Gold passes online at places like cd keys for £40 and you can stack them for up to 3 years, so even if you don't want Gamepass its still incredibly easy to get Gold at a reasonable value

@carlos82 Gamepass is pointless for me. Not everyone benefits from it.

Yeah, that's shockingly bad for Xbox Live on its own. But have to admit if I had an Xbox (which I expect to eventually) I'd be all over Game Pass, which is phenomenal value and easily makes up for it.

@walidsab wouldn't be that much of a pc lol

Hopefully Sony is not thinking about doing the same, even combining Plus and Now wouldn’t be a value for me if it’s only half a year

Game Pass is an amazing value, but I have very mixed feelings about Xbox kinda sorta strong-arming those who haven't subscribed into jumping on the train.

@LiterallyDoNotCare thats why I said you can still get Gold cheaply and easily, so this won't be an issue for years

@LiterallyDoNotCare I don't think you'd like to be insulted for no reason if Sony decides to increase their subscription price. It not as if Xbox owners could have predicticted this when they bought a brand new Series X/S.

@Cloud7794 I get for who gamepass is for. Not saying it's bad. It's a good option for hardcore players that want to play more games without spending that much. It's a good service.

but it has no use for me. Would only get it for exclusives, but I rather buy the 2-3 exclusives xbox might release every year instead? Or maybe 2023 they release 3 games I like, and in 2024 I don't care about the exclusives that year, so I would have to pay $120 to play those 3 and yet, if the next year is not so good either, I still will have to pay $120.

Probably using the increase to fund Game Pass.

This will push people to Game Pass, and then they'll jack up the price on that.

MS is just herding the congregation into getting Gamepass Ultimate as the better overall deal, while still more expensive ultimately at $180 per year. At the same time doubling the price of Gold is how Gamepass is more sustainable. Dont expect this to be the last price hike from Microsoft, this is how the Netflix model stays afloat.

@Rhaoulos You misunderstood. I only called fools those that defend that everyone should be happy because gamepass is great.

What you said, is basically insulting xbox users for being xbox users.

@RBMango I think Xbox as a gaming platform is now built around it, if anything it would make sense for them to ditch Gold entirely and simply make it free to play online from their consoles. Even more so when you consider that a large portion of their customers will be playing on PC (where its free) or mobile (where they will already have Gamepass)

@carlos82 Well those prices will go higher too.

This is surprising. Xbox Gold went from potentially becoming free, to now twice the price.

@carlos82 That would make the most sense since they were pushing Game Pass hard while marketing the XSX. But this is the video game industry. Common sense is lost on these corporate, greedy clowns.

I'm still bracing myself for the day when they dramatically jack up the price of Game Pass on PC.

@LiterallyDoNotCare not for a while, sites like CD Keys still have gift card codes from the 360 days, so I'd imagine they'll have a lot of these Gold codes. Plus it says you can renew at current prices, so whilst its not perfect its still very easy to get around

I thought their Ultimate Game Pass includes Xbox live?

@costa69gr it does, this is for those that just want Gold

That's really bad.

This isn't the way to rebuild the Xbox brand at the beginning of a new generation. Especially when so many Xbox games are mp-oriented.

@RBMango it seems like even Microsoft have to recoup that $7.5 billion they're splashing out on Zenimax, part of the reason why I fully expect big Bethesda games to still be available elsewhere

@carlos82 still. What about people without credit cards?

They sold ad space on the PS5 UI so hopefully they don't think they need to raise the price of PS+ too.

It does kind of feel like they are strongarming people into Game Pass. They have already lost the FIFA/COD/Fortnite crowd to PlayStation. I rarely buy games for Xbox now I have Game Pass. The ones I want that aren't on Game Pass I wait for a sale and use Microsoft Rewards to get them free.

To add cant wait till the price of PlayStation Plus goes up to $70 a year just like sony exclusives

@carlos82 Hahaha I was going to make a snarky comment about that being the reason for this price hike, but I wouldn't be shocked if that was actually the case.

What have I said? Gamepass is unsustainable. You can’t have that many big new games for that low of a price. That “value” is a temporary loss leader and won’t be good for gaming in general.
It’s like I’ve said as to why supporting it or relying on it isn’t a good idea. It won’t last and won’t be healthy forever or help the hobby long-term.

£50 is the limit for a year for me because I rarely play online and get PS+ just for the games (and I usually get it for £35). More than this and I may as well just buy the plus games I’d play from the service. Would likely be cheaper.

@Daleaf

I figured I would try the code out fully expecting somebody to have already snagged it, but it worked! Thank you very much mate, this type of generosity does not come along often - I really appreciate it. Hope you have just as much luck with the football this weekend! Take care

@Gaming365247 if you fools keep buying games and stop complaining about games having a 70$ price tag Sony won’t raise the price on ps plus. These gaming companies have to maintain a business they not doing free charity for broke idiots.

@Gaming365247 found the fool

So now you have Fortnite and other popular free-to-play games costing $120 per year to play on Xbox, while being free on Playstation.

That’s a really bad look for MS, and I hope it doesn’t give Sony the idea to raise PS+.

@4kgk2
Awww name calling what are you 5? No game is worth $70 period heck no game is worth $60 at the moment.

@LiterallyDoNotCare how are they buying Gold now? I mean you can use PayPal or a Debit Card to buy these or renew on Xbox

I do think Game pass is massively over estimated. When i looked at the games I played last gen against what came on game pass, I would end up payer thousands of pounds more to have had game pass and still play PS exclusives. The only way it will save you money is if you don't have an interest in any major third party games or Sony exclusives.
Saying that I will be getting a series X and game pass as I think the service will improve massively through this generation, including all the Bethesda games that I probably wouldn't have bought without game pass - especially now most will be exclusive to MS.

@Jaz007
WhatS your opinion on PlayStation Now ?

@Jaz007 Jim Lying, for being a guy in a suit, he was right about ps studios games not being in a similar service. Premium is the way.

@4kgk2 sup

@DeepSpace5D
Dont worry PsPlus will be the next service to go up $70 a year and have the same trash games

@Gaming365247 cheap people like you will be the death of the gaming industry 😡.

@LiterallyDoNotCare sup

@carlos82 oh. Well my brother doesn't have one so he buys prepaid card so...

Realistically, it's the price of Xbox Live that keeps me from purchasing an Xbox. There are a few exclusive (couple?) games I'd like to play, but there's no way I'm paying two subs.

That said, I'm still not happy with paying for PS+ either. Even at it's current price, I don't feel it's a good value anymore. Still stuck with it because of features like cloud save though.

@4kgk2 You said fool. Imma have you arrested.

@NathanUC sony should really focus on a few multiplayer games. D.all stars looks great but what we really want is factions 2. where is it, Neil Chadman?

@Gaming365247 It remains to be seen. I’m not naive enough to think that both companies aren’t out for our money.

But I think at least with Sony charging a premium for their first-party titles, they are going a different route that could keep their online prices the same for now.

But I am sure Sony will be monitoring how this price hike plays out for MS. If it doesn’t result in a big dropoff of subscriptions, Sony will probably consider it.

@Gaming365247 It’s always hilarious to hear Xbones push game pass when the games that are on there aren’t that great. I’m glad to pay for every great game that I’ve played over the last 7 years!

So people are paying for the Pass even if they dont use it. If its true then it shows that the pass is a rippoff.

@4kgk2
And people like you are why the gaming industry has gotten lazy. I bet you brought Cyberpunk 2077 day one and complained about it with death threats. But you get what you pay for $60 or $70. Meanwhile people like me who wait get the complete finished game with all the DLC for halfprice or less in 3-6 months

@Culjoseth
and when was the last time PlayStation Now added something good

Pretty sure PSN will be next.

The badminton club that I go to originally had a pay as you go price and a monthly subscription price. When sustainability of the club became an issue rather than drop the price of the monthly subscription to make it look more attractive they basically put the price of the pay as you go option up. That had the effect of basically annoying anyone that only wanted to go a few times a month rather than increasing the numbers that were paying monthly. Not saying that's definitely going to happen here but time will tell.

I can imagine it looks better for MS to show that GP has a bigger number of subscribers than other services out there and if you've already got existing customers then easier just to convert those than get new users from outside of the xbox eco-system.

@get2sammyb idk how. but ND managed to make my favorite single player and multiplayer of all time in one package. Was my 2nd most played multiplayer. That's high for a remaster

@Gaming365247 Quality over quantity. The four monthly games on Xbox are not very good.

@LiterallyDoNotCare you could literally say the same thing about sony fanboys and their take on $70 games, ya fool.

@JoeyTS
Keep telling yourself that.

@LiterallyDoNotCare I'm an Xbox player, but Game Pass sucks at the moment, but I'm holding out for The Medium. Games With Gold is embarrassing again for February. My next console will probably be the PS5

@Gaming365247 I didn’t buy that cybertrash. I get it buying games is a risk for some people but you can wait for reviews to come out before making the decision to buy a game.

@PhhhCough I can't say much, but I'm expecting to see true next-gen games witht that price increase. No way xbox live gets better with $60 more. We are also talking about $10 (that every developer wanted) vs $60. Not comparable. You can wait for sales too. You can't do that here.

@PhhhCough €70 complete game or a €60 with several versions, MT, seasonpasses, lootboxes and whatever yeah ill take the €70. Call me a fool then i dont care but thats my take on it. Or the MS firstparty titles full of MT and whatever monetization can think of or barebones games yeah i feel like a fool. 🤪

@Dronewolf Isnt it better too wait and buy the game then?

@Flaming_Kaiser that's another good point. Sony doesn't do mtx in their single player games. Neither does nintendo. Most japanese publishers don't actually.

Its 32$ on ebay for the 1 year deal.word up son

@JoeyTS 4 monthly games? Are you talking Gold or Gamepass? Actually next months Gold lineup is great

@Culjoseth
So i'm guessing you saying the yakuza games "aint that great" or Final Fantasy XV "aint that great" or code vein or control "aint that great" is Hellblade or other games in the Final fantasy series "aint that great" though i agree Hellblade wasnt "that great" anyways

@LiterallyDoNotCare For me its easy i rather pay full price upfront instead of all these other options. Ubisoft games are not €60 games its €60 to start and lets not forget they are buggy most of the time too. If i hear that Halo wants too start charging for shaders on a armor then i think lets hope this never happens. ☹️

@Gaming365247 Don’t know, I buy games I want to play. Not into bloat!

@Gaming365247 I’m not a fan of it. I think older games doesn’t seem as harmful, though. If Sony stressed it enough or it gained too much traction, I might have a worry about it affecting the industry. The moment offers more than left-overs might an issue, though.

@Culjoseth
Lol every game i just mention are mostly AAA games and a few of them are popular on PlayStation. So i got ask what games do u buy and yes i buy my games too sorry try again

Edit is the Kingdom Hearts series "not that great"

I have both xbox and ps5 do people still not realise you can just do xbox rewards, takes like 5 mins of your day if that, not once did I ever pay for gamepass and gold.

@Ssimsim
i havent payed for neither in like 3 years now because of that lol

@Flaming_Kaiser I still gave Game Pass until mid Feb.

@Jaz007 Game Pass is Sustainable. The amount of money coming in per month - based on Sept 2020 is around $150m. That 15m subscribers paying $10 a month. The average cost of developing a AAA game is around $40-50m - so that's about 3 AAA games funded a month - however, it doesn't quite work like that as that $40-50m is also spread out over 2-5yrs of studio time.

Essentially, the cost of keeping a Studio open (rates, rent etc), paying all the staff a wage and having money for 'extras' (like paying for Voice Actors, mocap actors etc) is all that is needed 'per month' and as long as MS are bringing in more money than the expenditure of keeping all their Studio's open and enough money to pay for 'extras' if/when required, its totally sustainable.

A Studio with say 400 employees, the rates etc are not going to be costing over $500k a month so $150m a month on Game Pass is certainly Sustainable. Essentially, the games are paid for without even selling a single one to those who would rather own the game. Horizon Zero Dawn cost ~€45m to make over 'years'. Break that cost down over just the months and it may well be around €1-€1.5m a month and you can see how $150m a month can sustain a LOT of studio's - without even considering any game sales at all - inc all the games sold not on game pass as the Platform holder will get a cut regardless of whether its a physical or digital sale.

You are talking about 30+ AAA games a year in terms of income from Game Pass - based on Sept 2020 figures - which could have risen significantly in recent months with the release of new consoles, inc new ways to buy with 2yrs of Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions and the announcement of Zenimax joining MS too.

It becomes unsustainable when the amount of studio's and costs of developing games in those studio's exceed the amount of money coming in from Game Pass - its basic maths. If people around the world quit - and its not 'just' console gamers but PC/Mobile gamers too, then it could become unsustainable - although there is also money coming in from game sales too...

@carlos82 I'd expect no less from a membership that costs $120!! 🤣

Xbox has been very gamer friendly as of late with gamepass and the series s price. I will give them the benefit of the doubt - lets see what happens

@Daleaf I will definitely enjoy it, and it is because of you, so thanks once again! I will drop you a post letting you know what I buy

Lol just another validation of why Xbox has been at the bottom of my interest list for years now. It’s effectively become PS > PC > Switch > Xbox for the past couple years.

Got a X1X to play RDR2, RE: 2, and replay the Witcher 3 and it basically served as a 4K blu ray player until I got my PS5

@Gaming365247 If those are the games that u got game pass for then I’m sorry for ya. Do u own a PS4 or 5?

@BAMozzy You have to take out the amount of money something like Elder Scrolls would make on it’s own. Halo too. If the other games can’t bring subscribers then why make them? Breaking even won’t be good enough. If gamepads doesn’t make a lot more money than the top games would on their own, well, somethings got to give because the all variety and non-“big” games are looking like waste from a business perspective.
MS doesn’t seem to think its current rates are enough to keep making a large enough profit as well. So the situation is already losing the “value” given. They’re acting like the naysayers have said they would and it didn’t take long.

@Darten oh nooooo. anyway

For me PSPlus is better than Gamepass or PSNOW anyway. Games in my library dont go anywhere.
Funny to remember what I knew was useless fuss about xbl going free back in July and the champions of pro consumerism 😜

Pretty roundabout way to promote game pass... This ain't the way Phil.

In the early days of GamePass, deals on gold and the amazing conversion rate have me set through 6/23. Paid like $60 for 3 years of GamePass Ultimate. And I love it. I’ll honestly never go back to vanilla Gold.

Live Gold is dead. MS is going to retire it as soon as they get a significant number of subscribers over to gamepass. This is just going to accelerate the process and the price hike confirms this theory.
As for the price, I subscribe to both plus and gamepass. I have never paid a full yearly price for either (amazon sales, or codes on ebay).

A year of plus is $29.89 on CDKeys right now if anyone needs a bump lol!

@Culjoseth
Unlike you i own all major consoles i dont fanboy out on one system. I have PlayStation 4 Pro for exclusives and Xbox 1 for everything else and Nintendo Switch for portable gaming and Nintendo Exclusives. And soon i'm working on a decent PC gaming rig then i wont have any need for consoles with PlayStation Now and Gamepass Ultimate on PC

This is one of the repercussions for purchasing Bethesda.

@Culjoseth
And funny how you completely avoid my question on what games you claim you buy or play

Wow that is a ridiculous price hike ! I used to subscribe to both Live and PS Plus but decided last year to try and cut down on subs and looked carefully at both but ultimately decided to keep PS Plus and let my Live lapse, for a few reasons.

One, unlike PS+ i get to keep the sizable amount of OG Xbox and 360 games after the sub ran out and two, because i really don't like the format of Game Pass, it's amazing value, no doubt about it, but i don't keep up and play games as they come out. I sometimes don't get to some games for years or even until the next consoles come out, so it having games that come and go from the service doesn't fit with my gaming habits, i don't like feeling pressured to start/finish a game before it vanishes out of rotation.

Seeing this hike now i know i made the right decision for me.

@Gaming365247 U assume a lot. I want to own a series x but I need games to play on it. Medium looks interesting and some games that might come out 2022/23 look good but nothing came out solely on xbone that I wanted. Game pass is not for me nor ps now. I own a Switch as well and play on it often.

@BAMozzy
If studios know that it doesn't matter if anyone buys their game, the quality will nosedive. Why make a quality game when the income happens regardless?

You are also describing the machinations of a private company, not a publicly traded one. Microsoft doesn't need "money" so much as it needs "more money than last quarter" - that's the only thing investors care about. The money from subscriptions is funding stockholder dividends, not new studios or games.

If that $150,000,000 per month figure is accurate then that's pretty good. However, consider that they just spent $7,500,000,000 buying Zenimax. It will take them more than 4 years just to break even from that purchase. Not only that, they are giving away all of the games those developers produce as part of the subscription, i.e., they will make no additional money from them. So they'll have to fund those studios for several years and effectively won't make money from them because they are effectively still paying off the "debt" of purchasing them.

Also, they are giving something like 10% of profits to GameStop if customers bought the console there.

I honestly don't know how the Xbox brand can turn a profit with this business model. They would need to have a drastically higher income base from subscriptions. If they can't get more subscribers, they will need to raise the price.

Regardless of all of that, since they always need more money than last quarter they will likely need to make regular cost increases to Game Pass.

@Gaming365247 In the last few months. Last Campfire, Mario 3D all stars, Sackboy, Valhalla, Immortals, Miles Morales, Tony Hawk, Raji, Spirit of the North and Minecraft Dungeons. These are the ones that I pd for but not everything I played.

I'm glad I'm not bought into the Xbox ecosystem because this price hike would really make me angry. There a good chance I'd just stop paying and/or switch to PlayStation. And online gaming is free on PC!

If this is about promoting Game Pass then I think we'll see more of this type of thing as the subscription model becomes more and more unsustainable. There are very few industries where subscription models work.

Netflix is (barely) sustainable because it costs $10 to buy a 2 hour movie, but $12 for access to near limitless movies per month. That's a good deal to the customer, and since the movies are mostly bad they don't cost a lot for Netflix to license. A game cost $60 but can often be found for $20, but they also take sometimes more than a month to play. Why pay a subscription for that? The savings is marginal for most people, and it costs a lot of money for Microsoft to get those games (for example, 7.5 billion from one publisher). There are also way fewer games on Game Pass than there are shows on Netflix.

GamePass, xbox live, gold, ultimate... I'm really confused as to what the heck is going on with xbox related services. That's about all I got out of this.

Wow, really microsoft? Man I really hope sony and nintendo didn't follow suit, this suck.

@get2sammyb It is that simple in principal - however that doesn't mean that its that easy to build up enough of a subscription base to make it viable and more risk if you only have one platform to sell the service on.

It also can take a LOT of investment initially to get to the point of financial balance. You can't charge 1m subscribers $150 a month to try and make it 'balance' so the company has to be willing to take a loss initially until they can grow the subscription base high enough to make it viable. However, you can get to a point where the income exceeds the costs of developing the games which takes away the pressure of having to sell 'X' numbers of games to keep the studios open whilst they make their next game

@KippDynamite If studio's aren't concerned about having to make a game that sells 10m or more just to break even, get the game out the door because investors etc are pressuring them to release so they can start to recuperate their money etc etc, then quality and more importantly, creativity can go up.

Studio's don't have to make a game that is perhaps more 'commercially' attractive to their publishers, they can make the game they wanted, take more creative risks. Studio's come up with a lot of 'ideas' for what they want to make but if the Publishers don't think that game will sell as much as yet another sequel or jumping on the latest trends, those games will not get greenlit so you end up with yet another game that's a lot like all the other games and then rushed out to market because the Publisher can't wait and needs to generate money coming in. Sony can give developers extra time because they have money coming in from sales, subscriptions etc.

As another point, the point about balancing loss of sales vs putting them on Game Pass - of course that's a point too but IF you take an average game that takes 4yrs to develop, the owner of the Studio is paying out money to run that studio over that period of time and can't start getting money in until that game goes to market. They are essentially starting from a minus figure and need to sell X to break even and then Y to fund the studio for the next 4yrs to make their next game and then anything above that is 'profit'. Of course there are other studio's under most publishers who are releasing games so money is coming in so its not quite as B&W as that. Sony, MS and Nintendo also have money coming in from Subscriptions and sales of ALL games on their platform so the pressure isn't the same as it for the likes of EA, Ubisoft etc.

You also have money coming in from Subscribers that wouldn't have bought those games - certainly not when the profit margin is at its highest and continue to subscribe long after they have finished that game.

My point was that Game Pass is Sustainable because you have a constant income coming in that covers all the costs of developing the game and funding the next one without needing to sell a single copy to recuperate those costs and/or put money in the bank to develop the next one. Its not as if they don't sell games either and there is still likely to be sales of these games too. Nothing has been said about selling some games on PS, Steam etc - like Elder Scrolls 6 - even if that does come to Game Pass on MS platforms.

Both are still a rip when I get 3 Nintendo Switch consoles online for 12 months of the year with only £35 for all 3

@BAMozzy
You have some good points and you could be right. Perhaps it will take pressure off the studios and the quality will increase. However, Microsoft has so much money that Xbox studios have essentially already been in that position, and their exclusive offerings are not nearly as good as the competition (in my opinion). My bias is that Microsoft will still push for games to come out and that quality will not improve, because that's how they've been. They also need to attract subscribers with new games. But I could be wrong and I'd be happy to be wrong about that.

Generally speaking, I think almost no new "innovative" business practices will work out for customers. They are dreamed up in order to serve the business - not the customer. Everyone goes to Vegas thinking they'll come out on top, but they don't realize there's a reason why all of the buildings are so fancy - the house always wins.

@4kgk2 "maintain a business".

You say this like the big video game companies, and the industry as a whole isn't raking in money.

Go compare what a company like Sony made compared to xbox, or Sony's own movie division (which draws in revenue from the likes of the Spider-man franchises) and what the game industry brings in in comparison to the movie and music industries.

"maintaining" is not the word for what these businesses do.

@LiterallyDoNotCare Seems as though calling people fools makes you feel better about yourself?

@KippDynamite Of course the house will always win in the long run. The way this system works, similar to Netflix for example which also needs money to come in to create new shows, films etc and now HBO+ who are essentially risking 'box office' receipts to show films to Subscribers, is that they need to have more subscriber money than the money going out to create new content, the staff etc.

MS are obviously looking to grow Game Pass subscriptions and the way to do that is by making it enticing to the consumer. That means it needs good games that people want to play and a constant stream of them to keep people from leaving. The number of Subscribers set the number of Studio's it can financially support. If the cost of keeping 10 studio's making games is say $20m a month, then MS need at least 2m subs and getting $10 a month from each to be 'sustainable'. That's not counting the revenue from those sales to non subscribers (which is pure profit as the games are paid for essentially by subscribers) so if the 'games' attract 2m more to subscribe, they could add say 5 more studio's to attract more people to subscribe and the rest of money is now a profit - a buffer so to speak. Those Subscribers now get more games so the service seems a better proposition and so more subscribe enabling MS to acquire more studio's. Yes the investment is outgoings but long term, you end up with more Subscribers than the cost of running 20 studio's who are paying MS a monthly fee 'every' month regardless of whether MS has a game to release - that's also a guaranteed income essentially - unlike releasing a game which you can hope people will buy into. Few Games continue top sell in quantity week after week after month after month so its a risk. Its why Companies like EA will try and pick the 'safer option', try and predict and jump on trends, forcing developers to add in things that are trending or ways to keep bringing in money after release with 'seasons' of DLC, Battle Royale modes, MP etc

Quality is subjective and if you go back a few years, MS had 'few' studio's so couldn't compete on quantity at all. Therefore to say that their games are not a patch on the competition is somewhat unfair. Yes I know Sony have had a string of great games from U4, LOU2, H:ZD and God of War for example but Gears 5 is a Quality game, Gears 4 was too (whether you like them or not is different) - they were solid, looked great, performed well etc. Forza Motorsport and Horizon too were Great and won best Racing Game awards FM7 beat GTSport at the Game Awards but they didn't have a lot else and if you don't like those franchises, you didn't get a lot else of 'quality' - mostly good, but not great games. However, that was before they opted to invest heavily in Studio's so its unfair to compare and I am sure that Game Pass has enabled MS to grow their gaming division - of course backed by the financial power of MS as a company, but you don't go spending that money on Zenimax unless you know it will pay dividends in the long run. If Game Pass was just Gears, Halo and Forza, then it has limited appeal - Paying more money a year than buying the Game(s) they actually want to play...

Wow 100% percent price increase after the games they have been offering this is a slap in the face tbh. Predict a Gamepass price rise soon also.

@BUDSclass201 Since when calling someone a fool means someone has inferiority complex?
You're a fool for thinking that.

Isn't this because you can buy xbox gold and update it to gamepass by taking out the £1 trial and people are buying a couple of years of gold to do this??

I don't get the thing that gamepass doesn't have a sony equivalent, psnow is superior to gamepass in every way, free online for psnow games, a superior library (I compared the two and have more games to play than gamepass, I mean psnow has a lot of ps4 and ps3 exclusives that you can't play elsewhere), and before anyone starts bitching about streaming, most good games are on ps4, and I have 12mb down wireless and it works perfectly, psnow may not add as many games as gamepass in a month, but gamepass is just full of cheap indies. and IT'S 50% CHEAPER, I'm sure if Sony priced psnow at 120$ a year we would have only the best games and exclusives at most 6 months from their release

Sony should just make a Classics subscription with the old games and charge 2 dollars a month. That's better then Microsoft trying to sell a rental service that only has quantity because of the crap that the "AAA" publishers put out.

PlayStation = The best place to PLAY

Xbox = The best place to PAY

I bet you Microsoft's Game Pass will cost a lot more to once Microsoft have brain washed people into their eco system. Oh well.

In the January sale, you could get 15 months of PS+ & PS NOW for £49.99 each

I'm just going to enjoy my free MP on my PC...

... but seriously speaking, I hope that PlayStation won't end up following them later down the road.

@LiamCroft The price was changed back to normal if you wanna update...via Xbox Twitter

This is the price of gamepass

Yep,they've magically reversed course on twitter! Hopefully not accompanied by a Gamer Phil South Park BP "We're Sorry!",video!!😂
Let's hope Sony have paid attention & noted what NOT to do...can't believe they're Xbots thanking them like they're pro gamers!😳 Same as Jim Ryan,or Nintendo with their first party price gouging & timed exclusive indie 3rd party stuff,they're not our friends & will try to get away with as much as consumers let them.

I’ll be honest, I’ve got Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and I had no idea how much I was paying until I just looked. £10.99 a month is a bargain. I haven’t bought an actual Xbox game since Forza 7. Just played everything on Game Pass instead.

@get2sammyb
Officially reversed...for now.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2021/01/23/microsoft-reverses-xbox-live-gold-price-hike-after-fan-outcry/?sh=6ce0d47939ae

But it's coming. They showed their hand. This is a stop gap band-aid until they have enough people invested in the ecosystem to raise prices. Anyone thinking of investing in a Xbox should be very wary...get a Series X and don't go digital. Crazy to think that Microsoft really wanted online play to go to $120 a year.

Or be smart and get a PS5.

EDIT: As a bonus, PS+ should stay status quo.

Imagine if Sony combined PS+ and PS Now. That would be the most satisfying kicking of someone while they're down.

@lacerz yep. Game Pass is a great deal because they want to lock people in, then they can gradually turn up the prices. It's the same story with other subscriptions services.

Not happening now and going forwards free to play games will no longer require gold to play

@teknium_
For now. Microsoft tipped their hand. We now know where they want to take their online services. $120/year.

Microsoft not going ahead with the price increase and free to play games no longer require Gold

This would have effectively killed the xbox series s as the 'cheap' second console option surely?

They reversed their decision, so delete this article. 😂

You can stack ps+ if i remember correctly? So if Sony follow Xbox down this road I’ll just buy 3-4 years worth at current prices

@Jmck87 Maybe, maybe not. Being an all digital system and not as powerful, maybe people would of bought it specifically for Game Pass ultimate and therefore wouldn't have been affected anyway - not that it matters now after MS's U-turn and, like PS, Free to Play games will be free to play online too...

Sony raises PS+ prices

You can see it coming..

@Salt_AU 😂 my thoughts exactly...

Quick delete articles, delete history and only Phil Good Spacer shines in the beautiful sky.
😀

@BAMozzy How much did GTA cost to make? How many bigbudget games are there on the pass. Yes its good for MS the developers not so much.

I'm letting my ps plus membership end in June once red dead online and borderlands 3 are done. The current price feels too much but if they increase it to keep up with Microsoft, I won't be getting it again in the future

@Flaming_Kaiser That's an exception as the vast majority of games do not sell month after month, year after year after year. Most of the AAA games on Game Pass also had a chance to sell for at least months before being added so it really only affects the brand new 'exclusives' as these are the games that the initial sales at the highest profit margin are most affected.

Its a lot like EA Access in that it offers older games that generate interest, increased sales and concurrent players - word of mouth is a powerful selling tool and if friends are playing the 'newly added' Game Pass game, enjoying it, their friends are buying it because its now 'cheap'. Then of course, when it leaves Game Pass, quite a few buy it cheaper to keep playing - many who wouldn't have bought the game anyway.

Sony has also demonstrated how giving a game away free can generate more interest and sales for Indie devs too when they gave away games on day 1 with PS+ - Rocket League is a big one...

It may not work for Sony - with only their PS hardware and their plans. It can take a while to reach an equal state and/or can become more profitable than their current system. No doubt there is a period of time where the cost of setting it all up and adding enough new big games to encourage people to subscribe and the number of Subscribers don't balance in the companies favour. But just because it doesn't work in Sony's current situation, doesn't mean its not sustainable...

I am sure people said that about the likes of Netflix etc but now they are in a position to create their own content rivalling the best TV/Movie studio's with big name actors.

Nice to see that Microsoft actually listened.

Microsoft Xbox 180 😛

@Boldfoxrd Buy psplus on cdkeys.com, it's only $30 peryear.

They showed their hand, they basically need to up the price on something to recoup some funds for gamepass. Wouldn't be surprised if they up the price of gamepass ultimate soon or get rid of games with gold for xbox 360/xbox one games

Know what? If gow 2 and hf2 look like re8, they should be $60. Especially when they are cross gen. I don't think moving graphics sliders justifies $10 increase.

@LiterallyDoNotCare jumped without looking with your comment m8

@Matt2018 what? Didn't understand

I couldn't believe it in the first place about seeing how much 6 months was worth, ok so they have game pass but it's ridiculous if you care about your community why up the price if people are happy to just buy gold keep it where it is don't change the pricing so it has massive inflation.

@LiterallyDoNotCare what didn't you understand you made a pre mutue comment about how gold is uping price this whole page is wrong lol

@get2sammyb scary right?

now l must faint

Created a problem to fix. Now look at all that goodwill. Oh, and now F2P works like it does on the PS. They care so much.

Does all this not feel on purpose?

This could have all been an elaborate ploy to get more eyes on the free to play announcement. Something doesn’t feel quite right about this reversal.

Welcome to the dream market of neoliberalism, where one service can be priced at X one day, at 2X the day after, and then again X!

I'm glad they didn't follow through with this, if only for the fact that doubling the price like that makes you really think about the world we live in and the absurd rules it abides by.
If a corporation can double the price of a service from one day to the other, sorry but the whole supply and demand thing has gone to hell and we should rethink our system.

P.S.: I can already see loads of people misinterpreting what Imm saying so no, I don't have anything against MS, and the price hike alone does not equal Armageddon; I'm just saying, if MS can do that (and they can), it's safe to assume that a lot of services and immaterial goods we buy are priced arbitrarily as well. Obviously I'm not basing this thought on this alone, I already held this view based on a lot of other factors.

@UltimateOtaku91 that’s not it at all. First the Gold subs are comparatively dwarfed by the GPU subs, they could no way make up the money. Also, they could have increased the cost of GPU by the same dollar they added to Gold, and less moaning would have happened. Sure people would have been upset but this reaction? Considering the fact they are going to make F2P MP free suggests this part in the works.

Clearly, they just want to get rid of gold altogether and only have GPU. This was just the wrong way to go about that.

I guess good things happen when Xbox gamers are vocal enough with their complaints and dissatisfaction. Now they get free-to-play games for free just like Sony gamers finally! Plus the doubling of Gold has been reversed.

Microsoft heard you guys and did the right thing, but the fact that they attempted this move only to reverse it in less than 24 hours comes off as them not really knowing what the heck they are doing. I hope they can figure it out.

The decision got through the boardroom the same way cyber punk release got through the boardroom. Suits couldn’t care less about games and will fleece us until we stand against their corporate greed!!

Sony should offer online play to come with both PS+ and PS Now given a choice to what service players want to join. They could also offer PS+ and PS Now for $99.99 a year as a bundle discount of $20.

@BAMozzy Ah Netflix where the movies and shows go away after a few weeks. And the price it has now more then doubled on Netflix. Somehow more and more streaming services popup i guess because it so sustainble.

I dont hope too see it happen with consoles and less and less diverse games with more and more monetization. Microsoft is great at monetization and GAAS i see it as a killer of gaming.

In the end if its Disney, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Amazon, Google all want the same and thats total control of the market. Digital is the future its that simple so all the profit goes too a few big companies in the end cutting out the middleman.

Another good example music streaming where the big names can make money while the other struggle too make a living. To much in the power in the hand of one company is a disaster.

If you even look at other things like supermarkets, stores, onlinestores where they price out the competition and kill them off untill they are the only ones around its painfull too see.

@clvr Dont worry it will go in steps now just like with Netflix it think i started at €6,99 what is it now €13,99 i guess just give it time. 😄

@Robinsad it would be a stupid tactic. I almost missed the F2P announcement because the reporting is all focused on pricing.

I think the most likely scenario is that social media and XBL Gold cancellations exploded and they revered course.

@Grot I didn't say it was crap because it is from Xbox.

I bet Phil Spencer wants praise for this.

It's kinda sad how salty people are to Microsoft simply because they only have one system. Gamers just want to play the best games and to do that you really need to invest in the 3 main players at a minimum. The alternative is to be a fanboy and pretend that your system has the best of everything which simply isnt true. That being said I understand that financially this isnt always viable but still it's strange to diss something just because you cant afford it...

This why all Xbox consoles sucked because online freaking horrible cause of the prices for owning either Xbox gold or Xbox game pass just 1 month 9.99 and 14.99 big joke I quit and Cancled my online game pass after I played Star Wars battle front 2 now I can't finish my online objectives anymore it's dead all Microsoft other gaming companies wants big money grabs .

So is Capcom them companies are rush cash grabs and foolish what they doing with these garbage remake RE3 and Re2 and then re7 now coming Capcom resident evil Village this why resident evil has be ruining by the creation of gaming horror from new Capcom team.

what's is next Capcom boss yeh which new Remakes can they that hasn't been used or ask about yet besides Code Veronica and re4 .

I want Capcom next 2 remakes that deserves more than anything is

Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City

and Resident Evil Outbreak 1 and 2 for all consoles with playable OFF Line 2 and 4 co-op multiplayer modes including main Campaign missions and create mercenaries male and female from Umbrella biohazard security room Center and create my own team squad alpha or bravo ellite I remember playing Rainbow six on Nintendo 64 best game ever.

That headline is so wrong. (Microphone dropped)

@Wolfie88 it’s hard to believe your comment isn’t satire. Wow.

@W0rl0ck Right back at ya

With them reversing the decision, it leads me to ask HOW did management ever think this was a good idea?

They gave Playstation a Win out of nowhere. PS Plus was effectively half the price. Its not like Microsoft can't afford to keep it at $60

@W0rl0ck well that told him eh? Even though he has the most ironic name as he literallydoescarealot about things otherwise we would never hear a peep from him he is entitled to tap his fingers and type whatever about whatever he literallydoesnotcare about..all you have done here is stoke the flames and help make this topic more about his views than than what its really about..excellent work..

@walidsab I did just that in June 2020 built a Ryzen 3600 16GB 3200mhz RAM, RX580 8GB, Gigabyte B450 board for £534 sold my old Intel i7 2600k, 7950 3gb, 16 GB 1600mhz ram and gigabyte board as a bundle for £140 used my storage and PSU from old build and for £394 build myself a brilliant PC does what I need and games are far cheaper online is free

@carlos82
If you have 3 years Live Gold on your account Microsoft will upgrade it for free if you sign up to the game pass!

You can also easily get the Live Gold from other regions for cheaper and activate it via VPN, then you can play online anywhere in the world without the VPN. 3 years game pass <£85

@Wolfie88 U OK M8?

server hardware is expensive.

I am a mature gamer, with a gaming PC, PS4 Pro and XBox One X, I have no allegiance to any platform, I just want to play games. I was looking to get the new consoles as soon as I could buy them off the self, but this has made me think twice. The cost is not the issue, being made to feel ripped-off is a real turn-off and if they did this now and turned back, they could do it again.

@clvr
Well said.

If people are all-in on the digital future then they are completely subject to the whims of corporations. This is why, to me, the digital versions of the new consoles actually look very expensive.