Xbox Game Pass lost millions of subscribers after 50% price hike

Under new CEO Asha Sharma, Xbox has rolled back recent Game Pass pricing after heavy backlash. At Summer Game Fest 2026, chief strategy officer Matthew Ball said Xbox lost "millions of subscribers" in the months following a 50 percent price increase last October, a decline he directly attributed to the hike.

Geoff Keighley shared a clip of Ball's remarks on Twitter. Sharma told employees last month that "growth slowed down and subscriber loss accelerated after the pricing and SKU changes last year," and described the recent price cut as "a good first step" toward addressing the problem.

She did not outline a detailed recovery plan, saying the company will "have to outwork the problem in front of us in our path to restore durable growth." Part of the visible strategy is a renewed focus on exclusives. Gears of War: E-Day will be a permanent Xbox console exclusive, while previously confirmed multiplatform titles such as Halo: Campaign Evolved and Avowed will still release on PS5 and live-service games will remain multiplatform.

xbox, game pass, subscribers, price hike, price cut, asha sharma, matthew ball, geoff keighley, exclusives, e-day