It’s been a bad year for the Xbox brand.
In addition to their layoffs and studio closures, one of which happened earlier this week, the company recently announced that their biggest selling point, Xbox Game Pass, was jacking up its subscription cost by 50%. Oh, and before you try to outsmart them on it, they also announced that you’ll no longer be able to use reward points for a Game Pass subscription.
Microsoft, which announced record revenue for Xbox at the start of the year, calls this price increase a way of “evolving” Game Pass. The news also came shortly after Sarah Bond, the president of Xbox, said that Game Pass is both profitable and generated $5 billion in revenue last year. Industry analysts have echoed the sentiment that Game Pass is indeed profitable.
Truth be told, if you’re looking strictly at the games, it’s been a good year for day one Game Pass releases. Having said that, paying over $360 a year, which is more than the cost of an Xbox Series S at launch, for a Game Pass subscription feels unreasonable, especially since the best Game Pass games didn’t release at full price.
We’re not the only ones to think that, as an unlikely ally agrees with us.
GameStop Is Still Selling Game Pass Subscriptions For $19.99
After spending the day dunking on Microsoft for the Game Pass price hike (no, seriously, they did), GameStop got serious for a second and announced that they’re still selling Game Pass subs in-store and online for the old price.
This was, again, in between taking the opportunity to take some shots across the aisle.
Of course, people were quick to point out how little money they used to be offered for their trade-ins at GameStop. As a former GameStop manager, I understand; the trade-in values and used game prices were frustrating, to say the least. It’s nice to know, though, that we can still pay the price we should be for Game Pass, especially since the webpage to cancel Game Pass subs was down due to traffic yesterday.
In other Game Pass news, I recently wrote a list of great games that justify an Xbox Game Pass subscription, which now feels a little awkward. They’re still great games, and if you’re loading up on subscription cards from GameStop, then it’s worth the price!
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Author: 360 Technology Group
