New Xbox Chief Executive Officer Asha Sharma has outlined a plan to “fortify” Game Pass as part of a broader reset of Microsoft’s gaming business. Her plan signals Microsoft is no longer treating aggressive subscriber growth as the service’s number one priority, while also hinting at one possible reason behind the company’s latest Xbox Game Pass restructuring.
Asha Sharma succeeded Phil Spencer as Microsoft Gaming CEO in late February 2026, pledging a top-to-bottom review of the division in an effort to restore Xbox’s commercial standing. One of the first major decisions tied to that reset was announced on April 21, when Microsoft cut the monthly price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 while ending day-one availability for new Call of Duty releases, which will now join the service after 12 months. PC Game Pass also received a permanent price cut, dropping from $16.49 to $13.99 a month under the same terms.
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Microsoft Is Rethinking What ‘Value’ Means for Xbox Game Pass Subscribers
Sharma discussed the company’s recent service restructuring in a late April interview with Game File’s Stephen Totilo. She said Xbox leadership had been reassessing what value means for subscribers in 2026, as Game Pass approaches its ninth anniversary. In that context, the recent Xbox Game Pass price cut was a response both to consumer pressure and to the maturing economics of subscription gaming, the executive revealed.
“To grow a subscription business, you need more players who love the subscription, that are staying longer and that are happy,” Sharma explained, describing that principle as central to her effort to “fortify Game Pass.” In the context of Microsoft’s recent service restructuring, the comment suggests that subscribers drawn mainly by day-one Call of Duty access may not have been staying long enough to justify the service’s higher price, helping explain the decision to delay those releases and discount Game Pass. Asked more broadly about affordability, Sharma reiterated the position outlined in a recent leaked memo, in which she acknowledged that Xbox Game Pass had become too expensive.
Xbox Aiming to Return to Growth, Start Sending Next-Gen Console Devkits in 2027
The newly announced price cut is only one part of a wider effort to restore momentum at Xbox after several years of uneven hardware performance, questions over exclusivity, and growing scrutiny of Microsoft’s content strategy following its late 2023 acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Sharma said Xbox is aiming to return the division to growth next year, though she declined to provide concrete guidance. Asked how Microsoft would define that growth, she said the company would focus on daily player engagement across the Xbox ecosystem rather than more conventional metrics such as unit sales or revenue. She also reiterated plans to begin sending development kits for the next-generation Xbox console, code-named Project Helix, to studios in 2027.
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New Xbox Game Pass Tier Reportedly Coming Soon
While still unannounced, Microsoft’s effort to strengthen its subscription business is also expected to include a new Xbox Game Pass tier called Starter Edition. The membership is reportedly set to be bundled with a $9.99 Discord Nitro subscription, suggesting it will be aimed primarily at PC players. That focus would align with Sharma’s stated goal of strengthening Xbox’s presence on PC, which she identified as one of her current priorities in the same Game File interview. Apart from a curated catalog of titles, the Starter Edition of Game Pass is rumored to include 10 hours’ worth of Xbox Cloud Gaming access per month and a rotating selection of digital rewards.
