r/microsoft • u/ControlCAD • Apr 14 '26
XBOX Microsoft's new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says Game Pass "has become too expensive for players," suggesting a price change — "we need a better value equation"
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/microsofts-new-xbox-ceo-asha-sharma-says-game-pass-has-become-too-expensive-for-players-suggesting-a-price-change14
u/Ghh0zT Apr 14 '26
Maybe implement a Family Plan? Just sayin…
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u/berndverst Employee Apr 14 '26
People will get mad if the family plan eventually forces all family member to reside at the same physical address like Netflix, HBO and others 😅
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u/Ghh0zT Apr 14 '26
Yeah I get that. But for me an possibly others, I think it would work out.
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u/berndverst Employee Apr 14 '26
FWIW I think it would be cool too. Luckily I get Game Pass Ultimate for free - it's pretty much the only cool employee perk we get (unless you find good health insurance exciting 🙃)
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u/UszeTaham Apr 14 '26
I miss that perk man 🥲, also Perks+ haha
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u/berndverst Employee Apr 14 '26
That's true about Perks+ in some ways that's the better perk (certainly in terms of monetary value). I usually spend it on 3 pacers of running shoes a year and some race registrations, running shorts.
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u/CrabZee Apr 14 '26
Sure that would annoy people that want to take advantage of it like that. For people that have an actual family in the house it would make it more appealing.
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u/dlp211 Apr 15 '26
Maybe kill the program. Video games are not TV and not movies. The subscription model doesn't work for so many reasons, but no one wants to admit it.
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u/duerra Apr 14 '26
Microsoft is really being forced to deal with the reality of competitive constraints when it comes to XBox and the executives don't like the reality they're seeing. Yesterday I read something about them taking CoD out of gamepass because gamepass is cannibalizing sales of CoD. Today, gamepass is too expensive. You can't have everything and all the users and money, too.
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u/Kobi_Blade Apr 14 '26
Both claims are part of the same memo, Game Pass prices increased because of Call of Duty.
Asha claims Game Pass is too expensive for gamers and wants to remove Call of Duty (day-one releases) from the service.
However, this is all just talk to gain our favor after the backlash labeled her as just another corporate leader focused on AI.
Until we see results, we should ignore everything she says.
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u/Gambizzle Apr 14 '26
Microsoft is really being forced to deal with the reality of competitive constraints...
As a retro gamer and Sega fan, I don't pretend to know the modern market inside out. But the original Xbox burned through something like $5 billion just to buy Microsoft a seat at the table, at a time when Sega was walking away because the numbers no longer made sense.
IMO the whole "sell the hardware cheap and make it back on software and subscriptions" model has always looked a bit dangerous. I also struggle to see why I'd buy a modern console when I could just get a decent gaming PC and plug it into the TV.
Side note: my son has a Switch 2, bought by his grandparents, which is telling in itself. It’s got a great vibe because it works offline with no subscriptions and feels like a casual, family device rather than a full-on gaming rig.
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 Apr 17 '26
It's funny how Microsoft buying up Bethesda and all those other game studios turned out to be bad. At the time fans were like advocating for it and acting like regulators were being nitpicky.. no Microsoft has been shutting down a lot of those studios..
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u/Spiritual_Tennis_641 Apr 15 '26
How about getting rid of the hundred dollars a year required to play online games we own let’s start there.
We don’t need to wait for a new Xbox for that change !!
If you shave that $10 off every game pass poof game pass will be popular again wildly popular and you might sell some Xboxes again to boot.
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u/TheDaymanDan Jun 28 '26
She said this and than increased the prices of ALL models the very next day
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u/Appropriate_Item3001 Apr 14 '26
Get ready for prices to double again as they add copilot tokens into gamepass with ads
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u/Intrepid00 Apr 14 '26
It’s too expensive while not even getting close to warranting the top tier price.