Microsoft drops Game Pass prices after player outrage, but again there’s a nasty catch

Cheaper Ultimate and PC plans

The company is changing the price of its most expensive Ultimate plan from $29.99 to $22.99. However, this plan will no longer receive new titles from the Call of Duty series on release day. Instead, they will become available during the holiday season next year, about a year later. Existing Call of Duty titles will continue to be available as part of the subscription.

The price of the PC Game Pass plan has also been reduced and will now be $13.99 instead of $16.49. The same changes related to Call of Duty titles that apply to the Ultimate plan will also apply to the PC plan.

Pricing and benefits for Essential and Premium plans remain unchanged.

A reaction to the earlier drastic price increase

Microsoft announced price changes for Xbox Game Pass back in October of last year. At the time, it was a matter of considerable price increases, with the price of the Ultimate plan increasing by an incredible 50 percent, and the PC plan by 37.5 percent. The prices of the two cheaper plans did not change, but the library of games available in them was significantly reduced.

Microsoft tried to justify price increases by including content such as Ubisoft+ Classics and Fortnite Crew, but many users considered these additions unjustified or completely unnecessary. User reaction was so strong that Microsoft’s website crashed under the onslaught of people rushing to cancel their subscriptions, GSM Arena reported.

Price anchoring as a business tactic

As we know, nothing prompts a company to act quickly like a blow to the finances. However, the new prices are still higher than they were before the price hike, when the Ultimate plan was $19.99 and PC Game Pass was $11.99. This can be seen as a case of so-called price anchoring by Microsoft.

The plans are now objectively worse for many users who previously chose them precisely because of the possibility of playing new Call of Duty titles from day one. Furthermore, the Essential and Premium plans are still practically meaningless due to their limited game libraries and more or less exist as decoys that should steer you towards the more expensive Ultimate plan.

Despiteč anyway, if you were thinking about choosing one of the two more expensive plans anyway, they are now cheaper than they were just a few days ago.