Xbox Game Pass Ultimate pricing has been up and down over the last 12 months, with a huge increase last October and a price drop to $22.99 per month in April. Some customers are now getting it for less, with a reported discount of nearly $7 per month.
First spotted by Reddit user synthlov3r, Microsoft now offers some customers Game Pass Ultimate for $16.09 a month for a one-year subscription. If you go ahead with the offer, it saves $82.80 over the course of a year. A screenshot indicates that the price will increase to $22.99 per month after the first year.
The user said they’ve previously used Game Pass extensively and are “on and off” the service regularly, suggesting this may be an attempt by Microsoft to lock in customers who flit between using its subscription and not using it.
This is the first time dynamic pricing has been used for Xbox Game Pass, whereas previous discounts were available to all customers. Setting up a Game Pass subscription still shows the full price for new players, meaning this isn’t an offer for all customers.
Other dynamic pricing schemes often use details such as your location, purchase history, and more to decide on which offers to give you. Microsoft may be doing something similar here, although it hasn’t yet clarified how it decides who gets the offer.
Recommended by Our Editors
PS5 vs. Xbox: Which Console Is Best for Playing GTA 6? I Ran the Numbers
Wanna Sit on a Thumbstick? IKEA Announces Quirky Xbox Furniture Collab
Your PS5 Now Lets You Watch Over 100 Free Live TV Channels
If you are a lapsed Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, head back to your account to see if the reduced-year offer is available to you. Multiple other users have said they’d been offered similar on their US-based accounts. If you are currently a subscriber, bear this in mind when you’re next looking to cancel, as you may find better prices once you’ve left the service.
This all comes after major changes to Game Pass in recent months, including a last-week announcement that Microsoft would limit cloud gaming features. Those on Ultimate are now limited to 15 hours per month, while Premium and Essential are restricted to 10 or 5 hours, respectively.
About Our Expert
James Peckham
Reporter
Experience
I’ve been a journalist for over a decade after getting my start in tech reporting back in 2013. I joined PCMag in 2025, where I cover the latest developments across the tech sphere, writing about the gadgets and services you use every day. Be sure to send me any tips you think PCMag would be interested in.
Areas of Expertise
Latest By James Peckham
- Don’t Want to Pay for Whoop? Screenless Luna Band Costs $149, No Subscription
- GPT-6 Astra Is Here: What You Need to Know About ChatGPT’s New Model
- Major AI Outage: Grok Trouble Blamed on Outage at Memphis Data Center
- Shop Around: Study Finds Google AI Mode Shows Higher Prices Than Search
- Alexa for Shopping AI Now Flags When a Scammer Pretends to Be Amazon
- More from James Peckham
