The Head of Xbox Agrees: Game Pass is Too Expensive

2025 saw the price of Game Pass Ultimate rise from $20 to $30 per month. Could 2026 see a reversal of that increase? Also, BAFTA announced its winners for top games, and we have the entire list. All this and more. Let’s go!

Could Game Pass see a price drop?

In an internal memo sent to Xbox employees, new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma said that their subscription service Game Pass “has become too expensive for players.”

"Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation,” says Sharma. “Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system which will take time to test and learn around."

“Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox. It’s also clear that the current model isn’t the final one” - Asha Sharma

Last year, Microsoft raised the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $20 to $30 per month, with PC Game Pass going from $12 to $16.50. Microsoft also added additional tiers to Game Pass, which users found confusing. Sharma’s memo comes after the company reported that its gaming revenue decreased by 9 percent year-on-year.

BAFTA announces its top games

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards took place last week, with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Dispatch each winning in three categories to lead the field. Here is a full list of the winners:

Multiplayer: Arc Raiders
Artistic Achievement: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Evolving Game: No Man’s Sky
Performer in a Supporting Role: Jeffrey Wright – Dispatch
British Game: Atomfall
Game Design: Blue Prince
Animation: Dispatch
Technical Achievement: Ghost of Yotei
Family: Lego Party
Audio Achievement: Dispatch
Music: Ghost of Yotei
Narrative: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
New Intellectual Property: South of Midnight
Debut Game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Game Beyond Entertainment: Despelote
Performer in a Leading Role: Jennifer English – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Best Game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🥽 Meta is raising the prices of their Quest virtual reality headsets by up to $100. 

🎮 The next God of War game will feature elements from various mythologies rather than just a single ideology. 

🎲 Board game maker Flat River Group is selling the rights to the Sentinels of the Multiverse games to Handelabra Games.

🧑‍🧒 Roblox is launching new age-based accounts and expanded parental controls, but parents are helping their kids bypass these age checks. 

🤵🏻‍♂️ The opening sequence for 007: First Light was released online last week with a new original song by Lana Del Ray.

🪆 Developer 4A Games announced Metro 2039, which is coming later this year. The developer says the game’s story was “fundamentally changed” by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

📆 Fable may be delayed until later this year or early next due to concerns about releasing near Grand Theft Auto 6. 

👋🏿 15 Disney games were delisted from Steam, including the original Star Wars: Dark Forces and Star Wars: Rebellion.

🖥️ Amazon Luna is ending support for third-party games and subscriptions on June 10. 

📊 The PlayStation 5 saw a spike in sales as consumers purchased consoles before price increases took effect.

📜 The not-so-popular 1990 console NeoGeo AES is getting a modern day release later this year, and it will play games from the original system.

🩲 A new tabletop RPG based on the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series raised over 6.5 million in one week via crowdfunding. 

👵🏽 After failing to respond to an automated welfare check, police found a 91-year-old safe and sound, gaming in her home. 

🎥 A Call of Duty movie is coming in June of 2028. 

📈 Round numbers: the pirate game Windrose sold over 1 million copies, Crimson Desert passed 5 million sales and Among Us has been downloaded over 1 billion times just on the Google Play store. 

New Releases this week:

Check out our article on 11 new games to play in April. 

4/20: Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
4/21: Vampire Crawlers (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
4/22: Masters of Albion (PC)
4/22: Tides of Tomorrow (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
4/23: Kiln (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)

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