Xbox rolls out new Game Pass tiers—Essential, Premium, and an upgraded Ultimate at $29.99
Xbox has overhauled Game Pass into three plans: Essential, Premium, and an expanded Ultimate. Ultimate adds Ubisoft+ Classics, higher-quality cloud streaming (up to 1440p), a revamped Rewards program, and—starting November 18—Fortnite Crew as a bundled perk. Microsoft is also renaming Game Pass Core to Essential and Standard to Premium.
Related: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — Is It Worth It?
Announcement Video
Video: Xbox (YouTube)
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Plans & prices (US)
- Ultimate — $29.99/mo (previously $19.99): 400+ games, 75+ day-one titles/yr, EA Play, Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite Crew from Nov 18, cloud up to 1440p, Rewards up to ~$100/yr.
- Premium — $14.99/mo: 200+ games across console/PC/cloud, unlimited cloud (incl. select owned titles), Xbox-published games “within a year” (Call of Duty excluded), Rewards up to ~$50/yr.
- Essential — $9.99/mo: 50+ games on console & PC, online multiplayer, cloud play, Rewards up to ~$25/yr.
Microsoft frames the higher Ultimate price as paying for a larger library (including 40+ titles added today), more day-one releases, and new partner perks. PC Game Pass also rises in price (US: $16.49/mo). Regional pricing varies.
Rewards at a glance
- Quests bonus rate: Essential 1×, Premium 2×, Ultimate 4×.
- Annual in-store value cap: $25 (Essential), $50 (Premium), $100 (Ultimate).
- Shop & Earn points per $1 spent: 10 (Essential), 20 (Premium), 40 (Ultimate); extra points on select purchases (5% Premium, 10% Ultimate).
Snapshot of community reaction
A widely shared X post by @Wario64 reached ~7.4M views when we captured it. Replies highlight downgrades from Ultimate to lower tiers, “sub-for-a-month then lapse” strategies, value math versus buying a few games annually, and concerns about future price jumps.
Update: cancellation page reports
the website to cancel Xbox Game Pass subscriptions is overloaded https://t.co/tnUjhmg1GS pic.twitter.com/vLzPsodAdf
— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 1, 2025
Why it matters
On paper, Ultimate’s perks expand (Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite Crew, higher-res cloud, more day-one titles). The trade-off is price. If you rotate subscriptions or mainly play a couple of big releases per year, Premium or Essential may fit better; if you live inside the catalog and cloud, Ultimate consolidates the most value—at a premium.
Disclosure
Some of our YouTube gameplay videos are captured from PC Game Pass titles provided “free” via Microsoft’s subscription; those videos are clearly labeled. We currently pay for Game Pass ourselves, and at this new price point, Ultimate is too expensive for us to consider continuing.
Written by Ronny Fiksdahl, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at Fix Gaming Channel.
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