I am in a long -term situation with Xbox Game Pass. When things are good they are really good. I will never forget the times we had together, when the choice of games was good and the flow quality was impeccable. But we have also had our part of rough notes over the years, and I have not always felt that I got so much out of what I put in, financially. Sometimes I just have to take a break, but eventually, against my better assessment, I always end up crawling back for more.
With the latest price increase, I am finally done with Game Pass for good. I mean it this time. The love I once had faded away, and all that is left are some nice memories that are cloudy of many years of annoyance. I wish the best for Game Pass, but this is the end of the line for me. Right now I can't imagine any possible reason I would ever come back.
I will always safeguard the good time, game pass
I definitely got more out of game passes than most. I was an early adopter of the subscription service, back when it only cost $ 5 a month and you could only stream games from a phone (and they called it XCloud). It was only a few years ago that a Netflix for video games still felt new, and Xbox came out of the gate with some rather remarkable value.
Since then, Game Pass has only gotten better. The library with games continues to grow with a mix of first party, indie and second triple-a-game from publishers such as Ubisoft and EA. XCLoud, now known as cloud games, has also improved, with more reliable flow and more options for where and how you can play. When I upgraded my Samsung TV and discovered that I could connect an Xbox controller to it directly and stream game pass, it blew my mind. When I did the same on my Quest 3 headset, I thought, “This is it; games don't get any better than this.”
This year, Game Pass has seen the smallest growth, along with the largest price increases yet. Microsoft has struggled to launch many must-play games during the current console generation, and 2025 has been the worst year so far. Outside Oblivion Remastered, Xbox has not launched anything to move the needle or give the competition a run for their money. Avowed was received with a sculpture, downfall: The dark ages were completely forgotten in a week after it came out, and the same goes for south of midnight.
I have been thinking about pausing my subscription in recent months, but when I saw that the price was raised 50 percent it was a clear deal. I have canceled my Game Pass Sub, and there is almost no chance that I will ever come back.
It's not you Game Pass, it's … Yes, it's actually you
The jump from $ 20/month to $ 30 is only the latest Game Pass. Over the past year, the service has doubled in price. At the same time, it has improved the smallest amount every year in its short history. Whether it was always the plan to turn on the screw on its customers as a frog that is cooked, or this is a desperate move from a company that ends in time, I don't know, and I don't care. Game Pass can be worth $ 30/month for some, but it's not worth it for me.
NOTE: The price increase comes with some benefits, which include Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Games. Microsoft has also undertaken to bring 75 day titles to Game Pass per year.
And I can't think of any reason why it would ever change, or at least not a realistic reason. Game Pass and PlayStation Plus can combine into a super -subscription at the same price, and then maybe, yes, I might come back. But it will never happen, and any of the feasible improvements that may happen in the future to increase Game Pass' value, would not be enough to win me back either.
Game Pass is already available everywhere it can be. I have streamed it on my phone with the help of touch checks, on my tablet with a Razer Kishi -mounted controller, on my computer, directly to my TV and on my VR headset. Unless they calculate a way that beam games pass directly into my brain, it is a dead end.
If the technology cannot improve or become more functional in any meaningful way, it must go back to what Game Pass would always have been about: the games. Will Microsoft start pumping out high quality trip-A-A game and launch them for free on Game Pass? I don't suspect. I also do not expect to see the library grow significantly, based on how here and miss to put a game on the service can be for developers. The fact that some devs with small teams feel that they were screwed up by launching their game on Game Pass is just a reason why I go away and never look back.
For $ 30/month I will only buy the game I would have played on Game Pass. I really used to evaluate it as an exploration tool, and I still think it offers a great way to try games that you would otherwise never have played, but Microsoft now prissues the people who would have got the most. $ 30 is far too much money to spend for the privilege of playing games that I'm not interested in enough to buy.
So this is my last goodbye, Game Pass. We had some amazing times together, and I will always protect these memories. But you have changed and I have changed a bit too, and I do not see this relationship go in a direction that I will be happy with. I hope you find what you are looking for and can stop raising the price every year without offering anything new in return. It was fun while it lasted, but I think it's time for me to see other subscription services for video games. I wonder which Netflix games are up to these days …
- Number of units at the same time
-
Five, with friends and family (in limited countries)
- Number of accounts
-
1 primary account holder
