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📉 Microsoft has cut the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 per month
💰 PC Game Pass price has also been reduced from $16.49 to $13.99 a month
👋 The price cut includes a caveat: new Call of Duty titles will arrive on Game Pass approximately one year after launch (the following holiday season)
👏 The decision is part of new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s consumer-friendly initiatives and precedes the release of Forza Horizon 6
Microsoft has cut the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate after it raised the price by 50% late last year. A subscription to Microsoft’s top tier of Xbox Game Pass will now cost $22.99 per month, down from the previous price of $29.99.
PC Game Pass is also getting cut, and will now cost $13.99 a month instead of $16.49. Both price changes are effective immediately.
In a post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft explained that the price change comes with one caveat: no more Call of Duty at launch. Instead, the popular first-person shooter will come to Xbox Game Pass the following holiday season (about a year later), while existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will continue to be available.
An Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price cut was heavily rumored after a memo leaked from new CEO Asha Sharma that said the service had “become too expensive for players”. Clearly, a decision has been made to bring back lapsed subscribers, though many would like to see the price cut further in favor of other “perks” being removed like free V-Bucks for Fortnite.
It’s also worth noting that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is still more expensive than it was a few years ago, even with the new price cut. However, it’s refreshing to see a subscription service drop in price for once, instead of continuing to climb to previously unthinkable levels.
The decision to lower the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate comes ahead of Forza Horizon 6’s release, which is due to be released on May 19, 2026. The Forza Horizon series remains one of Xbox’s most important and popular franchises, and will undoubtedly lead to a small boost in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
Since Sharma became CEO of Xbox, we’ve seen several consumer-friendly decisions come into effect, as Microsoft tries to reposition the Xbox brand from the brink of irrelevancy. Long-requested features are coming, like changes to Xbox Achievements, and Sharma killed off the company’s controversial “This is an Xbox” campaign. We also got confirmation of the next Xbox, codenamed Xbox Project Helix, which aims to combine the best of console and PC into one package.
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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.
