Xbox Game Pass Officially Confirms Major Price Mistake

Xbox Game Pass has gone through some major changes in the past couple of years, and Microsoft is clearly aware that not all of them were good. Recently, Xbox has been focusing on re-branding, with pivots ranging from a new, less minimalist logo to a renewed focus on console exclusivity.

One of the most appreciated changes is the reversal of course on Xbox Game Pass, which dropped in price after a major increase in 2025. While the new price is still a bit higher than before, Xbox has now explained just how big the original fallout of the price increase was.

On X, Summer Game Fest host Geoff Keighley paraphrased a statement on the subject from Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball. According to Ball, Xbox lost "millions of subscribers" after the price increase, although he doesn't offer an exact figure.

This isn't exactly a huge surprise, but it's rare to see a major company disclose a setback like this in such a public way. It's keeping in step with Xbox's recent strategic pivots, however, as new CEO Asha Sharma is trying to re-brand Xbox as a company that's aware of its recent mistakes and focused on listening to what fans want.

The loss of millions of subscribers doesn't necessarily mean that the price hike wasn't profitable for Xbox. The service previously reported subscriber numbers of well over 30 million, and the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate increased from $19.99 to $29.99 last October. Unless half of its Ultimate subscribers left the service, it could still have resulted in an increase in revenue.

At the same time, reversing course and admitting the loss of subscribers essentially provides official confirmation that Xbox considers the price hike a mistake. A smaller subscriber pool would shrink the base on which Xbox is attempting to build its future. As PlayStation continues to hog the larger share of the market, that's not a move that Xbox can necessarily afford to make, to say nothing of its impact on community relations.

According to Sharma, however, things are back on track. Speaking at a Bloomberg tech event last week, she said that Xbox Game Pass has "returned to growth" and highlighted a renewed closeness with the Xbox community (as reported by X user Klobrille). The new $22.99 price tag of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate still isn't cheap, but its comparative affordability could prove to be an important turning point for Xbox.