Microsoft is preparing to address growing complaints about Game Pass pricing, and its new Xbox chief says the current model is not the final one. In an internal memo to Xbox employees obtained by The Verge, Asha Sharma said Game Pass has become too expensive for players and that Microsoft needs a better value equation.
Sharma said the company will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system over time, signaling that changes are coming after months of online chatter about the service. She also told employees she would go deeper with them next week, suggesting the discussion is moving from rumor to a more formal internal reset.
The move lands after Microsoft lifted the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to $29.99 per month last year, a 50 percent jump that the company defended by pointing to upgrades across all of its Xbox Game Pass tiers. Microsoft later added Call of Duty to Game Pass in the summer of 2024, a major step that was meant to bolster the service even as the higher price began to weigh on players.
That backdrop matters because the pressure around Game Pass has not come from one direction. Microsoft has been trying to justify the higher price with added value, while users and industry watchers have been questioning whether the service still feels like a bargain. The company had also debated whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass nearly two years ago, a sign that the subscription strategy has long been under internal strain.
Over the weekend, Jez Corden said on the XB2+1 podcast that Microsoft might take Call of Duty out of Game Pass this year. He said that if that happened, it could expose some of the cracks in the strategy, and Sharma’s memo now gives that concern more weight by acknowledging that the current setup may not hold.
For now, Microsoft is not saying exactly how Game Pass will change. But Sharma’s message is clear: the company knows the service has become too expensive in the short term, and it is preparing employees for a longer effort to rebuild its value pitch before the next round of pricing questions hits.
