"Two words: cancel now" – Xbox Game Pass cancelations seemingly surge following Microsoft's tone-deaf post praising "more rewards" amid 50% price hike, and even GameStop's got jokes: "$29.99 every month. Own nothing"

News
By published

When even GameStop's clowning on you, you know you done messed up

Xbox
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Amid worldwide economic turmoil, Microsoft has jacked up the price of Xbox Game Pass subscriptions again, this time by 50% for Ultimate and about 40% for PC, and people are rightfully responding with jokes at its expense as well as cancelations.

To be clear, only Ultimate and PC Game Pass are going up in price, but it's pertinent that those happen to be the only tiers with day one access to big new releases like The Outer Worlds 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Basically, they're kind of the whole point of Game Pass for most people, and Ultimate is going from $20 to $30 a month, while PC is increasing from $11.99 to $16.49 monthly.

Despite Xbox's efforts to frame this as an overall upgrade to the service with some new perks you probably don't care about, this is nothing but a good old fashioned price hike – a huge one at that – and people are seemingly rushing to cancel their subscriptions at such a pace that the website you visit to do so was briefly "overloaded," according to Wario64 on Twitter.

When even GameStop, which itself doesn't have the most sterling reputation in the games industry, is dogpiling on you, you have to know you've really messed up. The retailer seemingly clowned Microsoft with a direct reference to Game Pass and its new $30 per month price tag, saying you "own nothing" by subscribing, and that when you "buy once" from GameStop, you "own forever."

Despite record profits, streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime continue upping prices on consumers, likely partially in response to historic inflation. Pretty much the only tool the average person has at their disposal to fight back is the choice to subscribe or not subscribe. Money talks, and if the message is loud and clear enough, companies will often make compromises or reverse course altogether.

Meanwhile, Xbox president says Game Pass is profitable and good for creators, despite alleged division over the subscription model.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.