Xbox lost 'millions' of Game Pass subscribers after 2025 price hike

Microsoft rolled back the steep Game Pass price increases it imposed in 2025, bringing costs down close to their previous levels after public pushback. During a Summer Game Fest interview with Game Business Live, Matthew Ball — a games industry analyst and newly-installed Xbox chief strategy officer — said Game Pass lost "millions" of subscribers in the months following the October 2025 increase, when Game Pass Ultimate rose 50%, from $19.99 to $29.99 a month.

The reduction came with trade-offs. Microsoft removed new Call of Duty games from Game Pass at launch, opting instead to add them roughly a year after release, a move tied to the need to offset the revenue impact of lower subscription prices. The price cut did have an immediate effect.

xbox, game pass, microsoft, subscribers, price hike, price cut, rollback, matthew ball, cod, october 2025