Xbox Game Pass lost "millions of subscribers" in just "a few months" after 50% price hike

Amid a major "reset" for Xbox under new CEO Asha Sharma, Game Pass prices have dropped dramatically in recent months, following what was apparently a blistering blow back from October's 50% subscription price hike. During a talk at Summer Game Fest 2026, hosted by The Game Business' Christopher Dring and attended by GamesRadar+, Xbox's chief strategy officer Matthew Ball shared a shocking insight into the negative impact Game Pass suffered following that price increase: apparently, "millions of subscribers" were lost.

The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley took to Twitter to share this small snippet from Ball's SGF talk, in which the Xbox exec reportedly attributed this mass exodus directly to the October price jump. Prices are increasing, well, everywhere, but the gaming industry has been hit particularly hard with inflation and US economic policy driving price jumps at Nintendo, PlayStation, and Valve, but even within that context, the 50% increase for Game Pass subscriptions was particularly egregious and seemed to be a breaking point for a good many.

Last month, Sharma wrote in a note to Xbox employees that "growth slowed down and subscriber loss accelerated after the pricing and SKU changes last year," and that the Game Pass price drop was "a good first step" in righting the ship. As CEOs of massive companies are wont to do, Sharma didn't and hasn't shared specifics on the big plan to course-correct the Xbox brand after months of bad PR, but told employees they will "have to outwork the problem in front of us in our path to restore durable growth."

One part of the plan that we can see in plain view is Xbox's new embrace of exclusives, with Gears of War: E-Day ditching PS5 for full-on, permanent Xbox console exclusivity. While previously confirmed multiplatform games like Halo: Campaign Evolved and Avowed will still release on PS5 as planned, and live-service Xbox games will stay multiplatform, first-party single-player games will be "a case-by-case" situation.

In the meantime, here are the best Xbox games you can play right now.