Highlights
- Microsoft employees will no longer have free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate starting in January 2024, which has sparked disappointment.
- Game Pass is considered a high-value service that offers access to a rotating catalog of hundreds of games, including new titles on launch day.
- The change in employee benefits will potentially save the company $50 million a year.
Microsoft employees are reporting that they will be losing their free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate soon, and a lot of them aren’t very happy about the announcement. Until now, permanent Microsoft workers have enjoyed a free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, currently worth a little over $200 per year, as an employment benefit. The membership gives access to hundreds of games in a rotating catalog, playable via download or streaming from the cloud, as well as other perks like free movies, Microsoft Store discounts, and trial subscriptions to services like Crunchyroll and Uber Eats.
In September 2023, the monthly price of Game Pass went up by $1 and $2 for Game Pass PC and Ultimate, respectively. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has also warned that another Xbox Game Pass price hike in the future is inevitable, though users were assured that the recent Activision Blizzard merger with Microsoft wouldn't result in a cost increase. However, it seems to many that the tech giant may be aiming to recoup some of that $68.7 billion acquisition price in other ways.
According to The Verge, Microsoft employees were recently informed that they would be losing their free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefit effective January 2024. They will, however, be able to purchase a 12-month subscription at a discounted price from the company’s internal store. This change will affect the 238,000 Microsoft employees who aren’t a part of Xbox or Microsoft Gaming, potentially saving the company $50 million a year. The outcry from impacted employees has been loud enough that Phil Spencer has responded internally that he wasn’t aware of the change and would look into it.
Losing free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate would be disappointing to many gamers, as Game Pass is currently considered to be well worth the price, surpassing Sony’s PS Plus after the cost of that service recently increased by up to $40 per year. Though a few titles are removed every month, they are replaced by new games, many of which are added to Xbox Game Pass on launch day. It’s generally a high-value service that allows gamers to check out various titles that they might not otherwise open their wallets for.
Even a game as highly anticipated as Bethesda’s Starfield joined the subscription service on day one, with Game Pass members only needing to pay an additional $30 if they wanted to upgrade to the deluxe edition. In fact, Microsoft’s Q1 2024 financial report revealed that Xbox Game Pass broke a record for the number of new subscribers in a single day when Starfield launched on September 6.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Includes
- Hundreds of games to download or stream on PC or console
- New games on launch day
- Discounts and Perks
- Online console multiplayer
- EA Play membership
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft's flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.
