Game Pass increase incoming

[Skyhawke]

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/10/01/xbox-game-pass-ultimate-premium-essential-plans/

[Lunar Ronin]

At this point, I am half convinced that Microsoft wants out of the Xbox business.

 

I decided last week to buy a Xbox Series X, but they're mostly out of stock with the exception of the $730 2 TB SSD version, and have been pulled entirely from.Costco and Target.

[Skyhawke]

Yet, they're talking about making the next Xbox even more powerful than the PS6 is supposed to be (how they know how powerful is beyond me). Me, personally, I think they've either lost their minds or pulling the old "let's see how far we can push before we have to back off" thing. Really getting tired of the gaming industry just seeing how much they can jerk consumers around. 

[Krimson]

6 minutes ago, Skyhawke said:

Yet, they're talking about making the next Xbox even more powerful than the PS6 is supposed to be (how they know how powerful is beyond me). Me, personally, I think they've either lost their minds or pulling the old "let's see how far we can push before we have to back off" thing. Really getting tired of the gaming industry just seeing how much they can jerk consumers around. 

They're probably going to start making AI boxes. 

[Skyhawke]

Oof. It's being reported that so many people went to cancel their subscription that it crashed the site. 

 

https://gamerant.com/xbox-game-pass-cancel-subscription-website-crashing/

[Skyhawke]

I can confirm it, went to cancel mine aaaaaaand:

 

 

[Skyhawke]

Xbox quietly got rid of the 10% dlc for gamepass games discount for Ultimate subscribers, as well. 🤦‍♂️

 

https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-appears-to-have-quietly-ditched-the-10-xbox-game-pass-dlc-discount-including-for-cod-points-this-week

[Reality Bytes]

FWIW, I did spot an article saying GameStop is going to keep selling it at the old price. How long they can keep that up is an open question but if there is one near you, you might be able to stock up on cheap(er) codes for a bit at least.

[Skyhawke]

3 hours ago, Reality Bytes said:

FWIW, I did spot an article saying GameStop is going to keep selling it at the old price. How long they can keep that up is an open question but if there is one near you, you might be able to stock up on cheap(er) codes for a bit at least.

 

"While supplies last" is what I heard. Which means as soon as those are gone, everyone will be at the new price. Between this and the EA buyout, it's not looking too spiffy for gaming lately. 

[Lunar Ronin]

Meanwhile, I managed to procure myself a Xbox Series X console last night, just before its price went up.  Woo!

[biostem]

If anything, CoH shows that gameplay is far more important than graphics, (not that CoH's graphics are bad - I quite like them - they're just not "next gen"), and, frankly, many recent games have come up short in that regard.  Unless they can start pumping out some truly top-flight games, what's the point?  I'm not holding Epic up as some epitome of games publishers, but they offer free games every week through their App, and you don't need any subscription or special hardware...

[Seed22]

12 hours ago, biostem said:

If anything, CoH shows that gameplay is far more important than graphics, (not that CoH's graphics are bad - I quite like them - they're just not "next gen"), and, frankly, many recent games have come up short in that regard.  Unless they can start pumping out some truly top-flight games, what's the point?  I'm not holding Epic up as some epitome of games publishers, but they offer free games every week through their App, and you don't need any subscription or special hardware...

Expedition 33 and Silksong are just two I can think of off the top of my head that are insane gamepass games that are truly amazing. I'd have to look at my list of games I completed this year and last year but gamepass has the issue of having too many good games to pick from, not the opposite way around. 

 

I can count on one hand, and it's really only maybe 3 fingers, games that CoH clears in modern times off the top of my head; Kong, Golem, and D4. Dont get me wrong there are stinkers sure, and I do enjoy some CoH from time to time. But this is literally one of the best years in gaming. The last 5 years have been transcendant and 2026 is set to continue the trend. Industry practices do suck so in modern gaming.

 

CoH, at least for me personally, is not even remotely competing with any offerings in the last 5 years. Let alone this year or next or probably even 2027. It IS still a good comfort game though and has a lot of nostalgia with it. 

 

As far as gamepass goes though? I still think that price increase is a rip, and while I get ultimate for significantly cheaper for $109/yr, I still cant recommend this current price unless you KNOW you'll play a lot of titles, especially modern titles.

Edited October 5 by Seed22

[Lunar Ronin]

It seems that I doomed the Xbox by buying a Series X console.  Sorry about that.  From a well known and accurate Xbox leaker, and confirmed by a second well known and accurate Xbox leaker:

 

 

 

 

TL;DR: Microsoft has scrapped plans for a tenth generation Xbox video game console, and is ramping down production of Series S and Series X game consoles.  They plan to transition entirely into a cloud based environment, like the Google Stadia of old.

Edited October 5 by Lunar Ronin

[Skyhawke]

That sucks because it now will give Sony the monopoly on high end console gaming and we all know how sound of mind Sony is when it thinks it's winning. 

[biostem]

14 hours ago, Seed22 said:

I still cant recommend this current price unless you KNOW you'll play a lot of titles, especially modern titles

I suppose that's really what it comes down to.  I have basically stuck with the same handful of games over the last few years, so for me, there'd be no point in subscribing to game pass, and since I also have no problem with waiting for a game to go on sale, or for them to release a "game of the year" or other such collected version with all the DLC, it's doubly a non-started, IMHO...

[biostem]

12 hours ago, Lunar Ronin said:

They plan to transition entirely into a cloud based environment

I guess that also means bye-bye to any concept of offline play...

[UltraAlt]

On 10/3/2025 at 8:24 PM, Skyhawke said:

Between this and the EA buyout, it's not looking too spiffy for gaming lately. 

 

Meanwhile at Homecoming ....

[Skyhawke]

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

 

Meanwhile at Homecoming ....

 

Shhh, don't jinkx it! 😅

[WanderingAries]

Everything is going up. If the streaming stuff gets any higher, then that bit we've been saving (by not having cable / satellite) is going to go poof.

[WanderingAries]

On 10/5/2025 at 11:46 AM, Lunar Ronin said:

It seems that I doomed the Xbox by buying a Series X console.  Sorry about that.  From a well known and accurate Xbox leaker, and confirmed by a second well known and accurate Xbox leaker:

 

 

 

 

TL;DR: Microsoft has scrapped plans for a tenth generation Xbox video game console, and is ramping down production of Series S and Series X game consoles.  They plan to transition entirely into a cloud based environment, like the Google Stadia of old.

 

I'd rather they not ditch the hardware TBH. I mean, I get it, but the competition is needed. Granted, I Do game mostly on the PS, but I like the nicety of having my "Halo Box" (custom console, etc).

[Glacier Peak]

On 10/6/2025 at 4:23 AM, UltraAlt said:

Meanwhile at Homecoming ....

Six years and all voluntary contributions! Heck, I have to eventually pay for batteries on my Gameboy, so technically Homecoming has been the cheapest entertainment I've had!