We’re not far removed from Microsoft’s controversial business decision to hike the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate by 50%. People have barely had time to digest the huge jump before being pelted with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate adverts when they boot up their consoles.
Xbox raising Game Pass Ultimate’s price by 50% will be talked about until everyone is blue in the face. It’s a staggering increase, even if it does include changes like many new games and Fortnite Battle Passes being included in Game Pass Ultimate. Many of you have canceled your subscription as a result, but Microsoft isn’t going away without a fight.
Microsoft Wants You to Subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
There’s a good chance you will be met by a full-screen advert for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate if you start up your Xbox console.
As shown by Tom Warren, if you turn on your Xbox and just want to play a game, you might be greeted with a full-on ad showing you all the glorious benefits of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
It neglects to mention the new $29.99 per month price tag. The fact that it took less than 24 hours from the Game Pass price hike is telling—have more people canceled their subscription than Microsoft was expecting, or is this all part of the company’s plan?
It’s unclear if this is a one-time ad or if you have to get used to this screen every time you boot up your Xbox.
Have you had this happen to you already? Please let us know if it pops up more than once, so we can see how aggressive the new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate advertising is. Plus, you can get in on the Game Pass Ultimate price hike discussion through the Insider Gaming forum.
Read our guide on whether you should buy Xbox Game Pass in 2025. If you don’t want your subscription anymore, you should consider learning how to cancel Xbox Game Pass.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
More from Andrew Highton
Microsoft needs to buy Take Two Interactive they need it right now to justify price increases and retain subscribers