As already anticipated in recent weeks, from today Xbox Game Pass for Console and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate I am most expensive in Italy and numerous other countries in the world for those who do not have an active subscription. We are talking about a largely predictable increase, but which could have a negative impact on the platform’s numbers, not so much for those who are already subscribers but rather for those who have never approached the service yet of Microsoft, which in fact represents a catalyst for the growth of the Xbox and attracting new players to the green ecosystem.
But let’s go step by step. For the uninitiated, from today the price for a new subscription to the Game Pass basic plan goes from 9.99 euros to 10.99 euros per month, with an increase of 1 euro, therefore, as a percentage of 10%. Plan Ultimate instead rose from 12.99 euros to 14.99 euros, therefore we are talking about 2 euros more, as a percentage of about 15%. We also specify that the price increase applies only to new subscriptions, while those already active will increase in cost from 13 August. Furthermore, there is no price increase for PC Game Pass, which will remain at 9.99 euros per month.
As mentioned in the opening, the Game Pass price increase was largely predictable considering the evolution of the market in recent years (the price increases are in practically every sector, not just the videogame one) but also the words of Phil Spencer, the Xbox boss, who already anticipated this eventuality at the end of last year. As we explained in a previous Let’s talk about it, the controversies that this change would generate were also widely foreseeable. After all, a price increase is never pleasant, even when it is relatively small and predictable, but above all when one has the interest of mocking the gaming faction of which one is not a part, all to fuel a console war on prices that has very little sense.
In this regard, it should be noted that the price increase was accepted without much negativity by a large chunk of Xbox Game Pass subscribers, who have expressed a desire to remain a subscriber despite everything. It’s easy to understand why: in the face of the hundreds of games included in the catalogue, including all the productions of Microsoft’s first party teams on day one to which are added some third-party excellences and independent productions of undoubted quality, the price of the service even after the increase, it is evaluated as adequate or very advantageous by those who are currently subscribers or have had the opportunity to try it.
In some ways we find ourselves in a scenario similar to when Amazon Prime increased in Italy last year, given that even in that case the price increase did not have a negative impact on the number of subscribers precisely because of the quality and usefulness of the suite of services offered by the e-commerce site of Bezos. Yet there are important differences, thus getting to the heart of the matter.
Unlike Amazon Prime, Microsoft’s Game Pass isn’t as widespread and isn’t on everyone’s lips, outside of specific venues, such as gaming sites, forums, Reddit threads, and so on. Indeed, we are talking about a subscription still growingwhich has not reached its peak and that although it is recording excellent numbers, these are not increasing at the pace that Microsoft hopes, as confirmed by the company itself a few months ago which reported how the growth of the service on consoles is slowing down.
In short, the risk is that the increase in Game Pass prices, without changing the perception of those who are already subscribed, could further slow down the growth of the service discouraging new users from joining.
This consequently could have a backlash also on sales of Xbox consoles, given that the Game Pass is probably Microsoft’s strongest weapon to make its ecosystem of consoles attractive. And in this sense, the fact that from 1 August the price of Xbox Series X will go from 499 to 549 euros does not help either.
Having said that, we are sure that Microsoft has done its math and has finally come to the conclusion that the inevitable price increase of the Game Pass and its flagship console, despite everything, had to take place now, a few months from a fiery autumn for Xbox, thanks to the debut of highly anticipated exclusives such as Starfield and Forza Motorsport that have all the potential to attract new users. We’ll see if he’s right.
Let’s talk about it is a daily opinion column that offers a starting point for discussion around the news of the day, a small editorial written by a member of the editorial staff but which is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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