Huge Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Price Hike Sparks Outrage & Cancellation Frenzy

Within less than two weeks of raising prices of its Xbox consoles, Microsoft has brought price hikes to the digital realm in the form of a huge Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price hike—and gamers are not happy. Not only have the lower tiers of Xbox Game Pass been renamed to "Essential" (previously "Core") and "Premium" (previously "Standard"), but the existing "Ultimate" tier has seen a pricing jump from $19.99 to $29.99, after having previously been raised from $16.99.

That's a 50% higher price hike than anything we've seen for Microsoft's consoles, which went up in the U.S. twice in a single year. Some users are observing that now, somehow, tariff pricing is being applied to digital games and services. Even PC Game Pass has seen a price hike to $16.49, up from $11.99, a move that seems profoundly unwise considering ...