The Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Console Mess

As we roll into the end of 2025, Xbox feels like it’s in the weirdest place it’s ever been.

In this episode of Game Pass or Pass, we sit down and talk through the massive shift Microsoft made at the start of October 2025: the full Xbox Game Pass revamp with new tiers (Essential, Premium, and Ultimate), the 50% price hike on Ultimate to $29.99/month, the jump in PC Game Pass pricing, and the confusing split between day-one releases on Ultimate versus “within a year” access on other tiers. We break down what each tier actually gets you now, how that compares to just a couple of years ago, and why the current structure feels so wild and hard to message to normal players. 

We also dig into the broader context that got Xbox here: another major round of layoffs, around 9,000 jobs across Microsoft with thousands tied to Xbox; the closure of The Initiative; and the cancellation of high-profile first-party projects like Perfect Dark and Everwild, plus heavy cuts at Turn 10 and other studios. We talk honestly about how all of that undercuts the “we care about creators” messaging, and how it collides with Microsoft’s push toward a more PC-centric, multi-platform strategy where Xbox games show up on PlayStation, Switch, and Windows as services rather than true console exclusives. 

From there, we zoom out and look at where Game Pass sits going into 2026:

Is Ultimate still worth the money after the price hikes and restructuring? PC Gamer+1

Does the new tier setup actually give players “more choice,” or just more confusion? 

What does Game Pass look like in a world where Microsoft is clearly prioritizing Windows, cloud, and publishing on competing hardware over building a strong console identity?

We close the episode by looking across the aisle at PlayStation’s future hardware plans. Sony’s CFO is now on record saying PS5 is only “in the middle of its journey,” while leaks and reporting continue to point toward a PlayStation 6 sometime in the later part of this decade and a Switch-style PS6 handheld that’s designed around backward compatibility with PS4 and PS5 titles. We talk about what a PS6 and PS6 handheld could mean for Xbox’s next console, and whether Microsoft’s current moves put them in a better place for that fight—or a weaker one. 

By the end of it, we’re asking a simple question with a messy answer: Is Game Pass still the best deal in gaming, or is Microsoft burning a lot of goodwill right as the next generation starts to come into view?

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