The recent price hike for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate won’t affect existing subscribers in some countries, Microsoft has confirmed.
Last week, the price of the top tier subscription went up by 50 percent, and has been met by criticism. But in some countries, this will only impact new subscribers – at least “for now”.
“At this time, these increases will only affect new purchases and will not affect your current subscription for the market in which you reside, as long as you are on an auto-recurring plan,” reads an email from Microsoft sent to subscribers in some regions. “Should you choose to cancel your plan and repurchase, you will be charged at the new current rate.”
Microsoft has further confirmed this in a statement to The Verge.
“Our recent Game Pass update remains unchanged. Current subscribers in certain countries will continue renewing at their existing price for now, in line with local requirements. We’ll provide advance notice before price adjustments take effect in these countries,” says Kari Perez, head of Xbox communications
The countries unaffected by the price increase include Germany, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Poland, and India. The US and UK are not included.
It’s been speculated this change is due to local regulation on subscription price changes. The email from Microsoft notes subscribers will be notified “at least 60 days in advance” of any price changes – so at the least, this latest increase won’t take effect for another two months.
Last week, Microsoft announced the price increase of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate amid a shake up of its subscription tiers. This comes despite the company making record revenue from subscriptions last year.
The former chair of the FTC, who opposed Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, claimed the Game Pass price increase is due to Microsoft becoming “too-big-to-care”.
