Xbox Game Pass price increase: Gamers can't cancel quickly enough as webpage 'crashes'

Well, that didn't go down well at all, did it? And perhaps rightfully so...

Xbox announced huge changes to its Game Pass model, including big price hikes, and so many gamers have been rushing to cancel their subscriptions that the cancellation webpage "crashed".

Here's a look at everything new that was announced and all the latest reaction to it online.

What did Xbox announce about Game Pass?

The three Xbox Game Pass tiers are now Ultimate, Premium (which replaces Standard) and Essential (which replaces Core). Existing subscribers automatically move across to the corresponding tier.

Ultimate will now have more day one releases, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics along with upgrades to the streaming quality for Xbox Cloud Gaming, with more games and features also being available across the lower tiers too including access to more games.

PC Game Pass specific additions were not mentioned.

Xbox also confirmed changes to how much some of the tiers will cost.

How much is the Xbox Game Pass price increase?

Ultimate has risen in the US from $19.99 to a whopping $29.99 per month. Less than 18 months ago, it cost $16.99 per month.

PC Game Pass is now $16.49 from $11.99 but the Premium ($14.99) and Standard ($9.99) tiers have not gone up.

There is no option to purchase an annual subscription, meaning those who subscribe to the Ultimate tier for a whole year will now pay a total of around $360.

That's more expensive than the cost of an Xbox Series S console when it first launched.

Explaining the decision, Xbox said in a blog post: "With the latest upgrades, Ultimate is now priced at $29.99/month, reflecting the expanded catalog, new partner benefits and upgraded cloud gaming experience."

The new prices have already come into effect.

What has been the reaction to the Xbox Game Pass price increase?

Understandably, the main talking point online has been about the price increase - and gamers have been furious about it.

So much so, there have been multiple claims from publications and social media users alike that so many gamers have been trying to unsubscribe that it crashed the corresponding webpage.

A number of social media posts about it went viral.

It's also been a big talking point on Reddit. The price hike was posted in the Xbox Subreddit and thousands of Redditors have been pretty much unanimous in saying they would be cancelling their subscriptions and questioning if it's worth it at that price any more.

One user commented: "That's going to price so many people out and really ironic after they literally just talked about it being profitable. It's just not worth it for casual gamers, especially since you can get quite a few games each month for $30 in the sales. $360 a year is nuts for a subscription service."

Another simply said: "I'm not paying that much."

"I can afford 30 dollars a month but at this point just buying games is gonna be cheaper," a third pointed out. "I don't use Game Pass that much."

A fourth added: "Oooff. Think I'm done."

And a fifth issued a rallying cry: "Cancel your subscriptions and hit them where it hurts. You saw how quickly they went back on the 80 dollar Outer Worlds 2 after preorders tanked."

Indy100 has reached out to Xbox for comment.

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