Redmond, Washington, April 14, 2026, 05:08 (PDT)
Microsoft is considering changes to Xbox Game Pass pricing after a leaked internal memo showed gaming chief Asha Sharma telling staff the subscription had become too costly for players. The Verge reported Monday that the review could bring short-term fixes and a longer redesign of how the service is sold.
That matters now because it is the clearest sign yet that Microsoft may revisit the October 2025 overhaul that lifted Game Pass Ultimate by 50% to $29.99 a month. Game Pass sits at the center of Xbox’s effort to lean less on console sales and more on day-one releases — games added the day they launch — cloud streaming and bundled perks.
In the memo, seen by The Verge, Sharma wrote that Game Pass had become “too expensive for players” and that Microsoft needed a “better value equation.” She also told staff the “current model isn’t the final one” and that Xbox would work toward a “more flexible system.” The Verge
Microsoft said in October the higher Ultimate price reflected more day-one launches, improved cloud streaming, Fortnite Crew, Ubisoft+ Classics and a revamped rewards program. The company kept Premium at $14.99 a month and Essential at $9.99.
Current Xbox pages show how sharply the tiers are split. Ultimate promises 500-plus games and day-one titles, while Premium offers 200-plus games, says new Xbox-published releases arrive within a year and notes that Call of Duty titles are excluded.
That divide became more important after Microsoft began adding Call of Duty to Game Pass in July 2024. The current Ultimate page now advertises Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as a day-one release, underlining how much of the premium pitch rests on blockbuster franchises.
The top Xbox tier also looks expensive next to rivals, even if the bundles do not match perfectly. Sony lists PlayStation Plus Premium at $17.99 a month and PlayStation Plus Extra at $14.99, while EA Play costs $5.99; Xbox counters with PC access, cloud streaming and publisher benefits inside Ultimate.
Sharma was named Microsoft Gaming CEO in February, so the memo is one of the first concrete signals of how she may reset Xbox’s consumer business. The report said she would discuss Game Pass in more detail with employees next week, a sign Microsoft has not settled publicly on the shape of any changes.
The catch is that a lower headline price is not the only possible outcome. With Ultimate now carrying day-one releases, EA Play, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics, Microsoft may decide to test narrower bundles or different access rules instead of a straight rollback.
For now, Xbox’s public pricing pages are unchanged. But after the October rollout of the $29.99 Ultimate tier, Microsoft appears to be re-examining one of Xbox’s core consumer products.
