Potential Price Increase for Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass

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So, Microsoft’s at it again, huh? They just bumped up the price on their Xbox consoles, and now games are hitting $80 a pop. Next up could be the Xbox Game Pass. Fun times, right?

Lately, it seems like every big company out there is sneakily nudging prices higher. They blame tariffs, inflation—whatever they can pin it on, really. Meanwhile, shareholders like JP Morgan and Blackrock are probably chuckling over their dividends. Must be nice to see those hedge fund numbers climbing.

Anyway, back to the Xbox saga. So consoles were the first hit, then games… $80, can you believe that? I wonder if Game Pass might be next. Just thinking aloud here.

There’s this guy, @RedPhx, who’s been working on the Better xCloud. He noticed a fresh notification: “SubscriptionPriceIncrease.” That little gem popped up on the xCloud site. Could be nothing. Or it could be something. Who knows?

These alerts usually just tell you about unlocks or friends coming online—simple stuff. But, this new subscription price alert? That’s a curveball right there. Makes you think, doesn’t it? Could Game Pass be about to climb the price ladder like everyone else—Netflix, Disney+? They’re all at it, though maybe Amazon Prime wins with ads. Seriously, they’ve outdone themselves.

All this talk about pricing’s making me think about Game Pass Ultimate. It’s $19.99 a month right now, bundled with Cloud Gaming. Hard to argue it’s not a great deal when it’s giving you loads of games. But here’s the thing: compared to NVIDIA’s GeForce Now, Xbox’s latency and resolution are still kinda meh. It’s decent, but could be better. Guess there’s room for improvement.

So, let’s talk nerdy stuff—next-gen Xbox Cloud Gaming. Rumor has it Microsoft’s cooking up something shiny at their Redmond HQ. New servers, new gadgets like Xbox Ally, tagged with juicy improvements—thinking low lag, better bitrates, and swankier resolutions.

And maybe, just maybe, they’re pondering a cloud-only subscription. No Game Pass Ultimate, just pure cloud goodness. Figure they might pull a NVIDIA, offer tiers for different resolutions. Wanna play in 4K? That’ll cost extra, buddy.

Whether or not Game Pass prices are heading north is something we’ll discover soon enough. In the meantime, if you’re worried, you can always stockpile those subscription cards to stave off price hikes for a while.

There you go, a little messy, but isn’t that life?