The XBOX Game Pass price hike costed Microsoft millions of subscribers
, by Thibaut
In October 2025, Microsoft decided to raise XBOX Game Pass prices by about 50% (for the Ultimate tier). This strategic misstep was later corrected by Asha Sharma last April. Gamers still had to accept the removal of Call of Duty from their subscription.
In any case, Matthew Ball, who is in charge of strategy at XBOX, reflected on this difficult period. He revealed during a panel discussion at Summer Game Fest that the price hike caused the service to lose "millions of subscribers". The exact number wasn’t given, but we can imagine it was significant.
Ball also noted that the price cut was "well-received" by users.