GoKawiilFacepalm: If there's a sure way to lose a huge number of subscribers to your successful service, it's implementing a massive price hike. It seems Microsoft was unaware of this obvious fact when it hiked Game Pass prices last year, only now admitting that "millions" of people left as a result. It wasn't long before Microsoft reversed the increase, lowering the prices close to their original levels.
Speaking during a Summer Game Fest interview with Game Business Live (via GameSpot), Microsoft's recently installed Xbox chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, spoke about the impact of the Game Pass price hikes that were introduced last October.
The change saw Game Pass Ultimate jump 50%, rising from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. PC Game Pass also increased from $11.99 to $16.49, marking nearly a 40% hike.
Unsurprisingly, there were so many people cancelding their subscriptions at the time that the Microsoft website became overloaded with requests, causing it to fail to load properly.
Now, Ball has revealed that "millions" of subscribers left the service during the few months after the price increases were announced.
In April, an internal memo from Xbox's new CEO, Asha Sharma, acknowledged that Game Pass had grown too expensive, and that reductions were planned. Sure enough, premium and PC-only plans were cut a few weeks later, making them only slightly more expensive than they were before the October hikes.
The downside for Call of Duty fans was that the games would no longer be available on the service at launch. Instead, they will come to Game Pass about a year after their release.
Dropping the prices had the desired effect. Sharma said in May that Game Pass acquisitions had grown and retention improved, which she defined as "a good first step."
Ball echoed that sentiment. He said that the changes to Game Pass are "resonating" with users.
Sharma's lack of gaming experience and previous position as an AI executive led to many people claiming her appointment was the death knell of Xbox. Seamus Blackley, best known for creating and designing the original Xbox in 2001, said Sharma's job was "going to be as a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night."
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