The Ultimate Dilemma: Game Pass and the Inevitable Subscription Economy Crash
Microsoft's big Game Pass gamble is just part of the slow-motion subscription churn cycle.
There are two ways to go broke, Hemingway wrote: “gradually, then suddenly.” The same can be said for the trickle that’s turned into a torrent in digital subscription price hikes and cancellations.
My thinking on this was prompted by the massive outcry over Microsoft’s big 50% price hike on its Game Pass Ultimate subscription. Taking the monthly cost from $20 to $30 struck many as being out of touch with the economic crunch people are feeling. Also, it’s not a great way to take care of your most loyal customers.
If anything, this overreach is more a problem of messaging than an issue with the idea that, over time, prices go up. The idea that the cost of the best-known Ultimate tier of Game Pass would jump by 50% was a shock to the system for many, and I’m surprised Microsoft didn’t find a way to smooth that over through smarter messaging. But it’s also a case of poor timing. Microsoft just happened to show up late to the subscription price increase party, coming shortly after big (but not as big) hikes from Apple TV+, Hulu/Disney+, Netflix and others.
Personally, I’ve recently cancelled Apple TV+, Peacock Premium, and Paramount Plus, and Netflix might be the next one to go. Like many, I’ll resubscribe for a month or two when a new show warrants, like the new season of Slow Horses from Apple.
Back in 2022, I wrote a detailed review of Xbox Game Pass for CNET, calling it “the best content deal in gaming.” (That article is still live today with my original byline and photos, albeit with more recent updates and a few added co-authors.) At $20/month for a catalog of games on Xbox, PC, and via cloud gaming on just about any platform, it worked. At the time, I said:
“When it launched, Game Pass felt a lot like Netflix in its early streaming days: an interesting idea, but a thin catalog. Now it’s the default release platform for major games from Microsoft-associated publishers such as Bethesda, and hit series like Halo and Forza...As it evolved into the multiheaded hydra that is Game Pass Ultimate, it’s hard to rationalize even buying an Xbox without also subscribing.”
But what feels like a smart investment at $20/month can quickly turn into an albatross at $30/month, especially on the heels of so many other opportunistic price hikes, general inflation, and overall economic instability brought on by *gestures wildly at the world at large.*
Microsoft, in this case, feels less like a technology and content giant and more like a self-storage facility hiking prices over and over and hoping no one will bother canceling.
I use Game Pass a ton, although these days more on the PC side, since I largely focus on PC hardware in my day job, with occasional nods to console platforms. Without Game Pass, I’d likely never have tried great games like Avowed and Expedition 33, or indie cult hits like Blue Prince.
That said, even for someone with at least one foot in the biz, $30/month feels hard to swallow, and I’d bet cancellations are ramping up to worrying levels, much as they did for Hulu/Disney+ after L’Affaire Kimmel.
But it’s the larger issue of subscription fatigue that interests me. Everything is a subscription, from your photo and video software, to your word processor, to your AI access, to your entertainment library. For years, I’ve heard the same complaints from a small-but-vocal minority, decrying the loss of personal ownership in favor of ambiguous temporary licensing, especially around must-haves like Office (now officially called “Microsoft 365”) and Adobe Photoshop.
Despite these loud anti-subscription voices, the trend towards making everything a digital subscription hasn’t slowed down at all. At some point, it feels like people will inevitably have to pare back or simply choose to remove themselves from the subscription economy wherever and however they can.
And yet, it hasn’t happened yet in a big way. Yes, churn rates (where old customers leave) are growing, but price increases have kept overall spend levels the same or rising.
For me, I’m sticking with Game Pass Ultimate for now, although I’m certainly closer to churning out than I’ve ever been before, coming back only for specific games. I’ve also recently added a PBS Passport subscription, partly in anticipation of dropping Britbox, which is also raising its monthly price.
All this talk of the growing subscription hydra makes me think of one of my favorite novels, 1977’s Gateway by Frederik Pohl. In it, enterprising explorers wait between opportunities on an asteroid-turned-space-station — the titular Gateway — where everything is a subscription, including the air you breathe. Can’t pay? You’ll be sent back to Earth on a shuttle. No shuttle available when your money runs out? It might be the airlock for you.
[Late update! Owing to local regulatory issues, subscribers in some countries, including Germany, Ireland, South Korea, Poland, and India -- but notably, not the US -- will keep their current pricing for now, with the increase only for new subscribers.]
3D Prints to Take you Around the World
One of the fun things I get to do for work is come up with a couple of 3D printer projects every month. Sometimes it’s unique designs I’ve created from scratch, other times it’s a collection of prints I find useful and/or interesting.
This month, I focused on collecting a handful of my favorite travel prints — things that have made my frequent work trips a little easier. My surprise favorite is these 3D printed cable clips, which work better than any store-bought cable tie I’ve ever tried.
You can find the full collection here, including the passport case I use because I can’t seem to get it together to obtain a Real ID version of my driver’s license.
Read it here at Micro Center News: My Top Travel 3D Prints
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