Enjoying PC Game Pass, one of the few tiers that didn’t receive the biggest price hike after Xbox revamped the service? Cherish it while you can – it may not be available as a standalone option for much longer.
The Verge’s Tom Warren reported sources who said that Microsoft was allegedly in the “early stages of exploring ways” to “expand” Game Pass. It may involve merging Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass (with Windows Central’s own sources corroborating the same). It’s also looking to add even more tertiary services from third-party publishers, not unlike what happened with Game Pass Ultimate.
Originally, the tier offered Ubisoft+ Classics and EA Play alongside access to hundreds of games on day one. Following the revamp, it also added Fortnite Crew to the mix. “In-game benefits” for publishers like Riot Games’ titles still exist for all tiers, so perhaps further additions are incoming. Otherwise, bundling PC Game Pass with Premium (which only receives Xbox-published titles within a year of their launch) could result in the tier increasing in price.
Considering the backlash that the previous price increases caused, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft goes ahead with this. Then again, with arguably its most packed year of first-party releases yet, it may want to net as much profit from Game Pass subscribers as possible to compensate for the loss in full-game sales.
