- Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reportedly admitted that Xbox Game Pass was “too expensive.”
- Leaked memo reveals Sharma wants to scale service
- Sharma says: “It is also clear that the current model is not the last”
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has admitted that the company’s Game Pass subscription service has become “too expensive” for gamers.
That’s according to a leaked memo to employees obtained and reported by The Verge, in which Sharma said Xbox Game Pass is now too expensive for members and shared a brief plan for how she aims to change things.
“Game Pass is central to the value of gaming on Xbox. It’s also clear that the current model is not the last,” Sharma wrote.
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“In the short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. In the long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system, one that will take time to test and learn.”
Microsoft increased the price of Game Pass on all subscription tiers in October. Now Ultimate costs $29.99/£22.99 per month, down from $19.99/£14.99 per month. There is also no option for a 12-month subscription, which would otherwise offer the plan at a lower cost.
The Verge reported that one of the reasons for the price hike was the decision to feature Call of Duty on the service, which took place before the launch of Black Ops 7 in November 2025.
In February, it was reported that the cost could increase further as Microsoft plans to combine the Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscription tiers, which could mean some users would pay more each month.
Sharma officially took over as CEO of Xbox Gaming following the retirement of Phil Spencer earlier this year. At the time, she shared a message to fans, promising “the return of Xbox,” and later clarified that she wanted to return the brand to its roots.
“The spirit of ‘Return to Xbox’ is about returning to the spirit that the team was founded on,” Sharma said. “It’s that spirit of surprise, it’s the spirit of building something that no one else was willing to try.”
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