Game Pass lost "millions" of subscribers after price hike, Xbox admits

One of Phil Spencer's most unfortunate decisions.

One of the last decisions by the former Xbox leadership, headed by Phil Spencer, was a sharp increase in the price of the Xbox Game Pass subscription. The 50% price hike caused such a strong negative reaction among users that the subscription cancellation page on the Xbox website temporarily struggled to cope with the influx of people wanting to cancel the service.

The consequences of this decision were discussed by the new Xbox Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball, during The Game Business Live event at Summer Game Fest 2026. According to him, the company lost "millions" of subscribers after the service's price increase. He did not provide exact figures but noted that a significant portion of users did not want to pay $30 per month for a Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

After the change in leadership, the new head of Xbox, Asha Sharma, partially revised the pricing policy. The subscription cost was reduced, and the service itself underwent changes, including the abandonment of adding new Call of Duty series games on release day. Nevertheless, bringing back lost users proved difficult — many have likely grown accustomed to doing without monthly payments for the service.

Sharma previously stated that she intends to restore Xbox's status as a competitive gaming platform. One of the key elements of this strategy should be to enhance the attractiveness of the company's proprietary hardware, as well as to return to the practice of exclusive games.