Microsoft may fear that too many users would cancel their subscriptions, so the company might try to keep paying customers onboard — even if that means sparing them from the upcoming price hike.

The Xbox Game Pass price increase announced on October 1 reportedly won’t affect all existing subscribers when it comes into effect next month. Users on the official Xbox Game Pass subreddit have shared emails informing them of the price hike, and some noted that their subscriptions would remain unchanged. Most of the subscriptions exempt from the automatic increase are located in Europe (e.g., Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy) or Asia (e.g., Indonesia).

This is likely due to local regulations prohibiting automatic price increases without user consent, although Microsoft has not confirmed this. Beyond the price increase, Xbox Game Pass has undergone significant changes this month: subscription tiers have been reclassified into Essential, Premium, and Ultimate (no longer Core, Standard, and Ultimate). While the Ultimate tier offers significant value thanks to the inclusion of the Ubisoft+ Classics library, Fortnite Crew membership, and day-one access to Microsoft-published games, the increased fee of €30 per month (around HUF 10,890) has not been well received — so much so that the cancellation page briefly crashed under heavy traffic.

GP price hike doesn't seem to affect people already subscribed, at least in some regions (English translation below)
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Although the price of Xbox Game Pass has risen multiple times, it remains a central pillar of Xbox’s market strategy. According to Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, the service is profitable and has generated a record $5 billion in revenue, becoming increasingly valuable to both players and developers — though this claim is still hard to take seriously. Microsoft has not disclosed the official number of Xbox Game Pass subscribers for this year (last year’s figure was 34 million), and it is likely that the company will withhold its 2025 results due to the negative trend.

Source: WCCFTech