A new report claims that one of the ideas Microsoft is considering for Xbox Game Pass is a new “pick-your-own” plan that would allow players to create their own specific version of Game Pass featuring content and services they are interested in. At the same time, Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma teased that further integration of Discord could be on the way for Game Pass.
Windows Central reported that the long-term goal for Microsoft is to make Game Pass “more flexible,” and that lines up with what Sharma previously said. In a memo to staff, Sharma said her long term goal was to “evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system.” In her memo, she said this will take time, as Microsoft conducts tests to find out what works best.
How a potential “pick-your-own” plan might work in practice, including limitations and prices, remains to be seen. And there is no guarantee that such a program would ever be released. It could be something Microsoft is only experimenting with, or intentionally leaking to gauge interest.
But the idea alone has gotten people to wonder about how they might tailor such a package to their liking. One of the criticisms of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate was that it was too pricy, but the logic was understood to be that it was priced so high because it included a very expensive asset: new Call of Duty releases. With new Call of Duty games no longer in the bundle, Microsoft brought the price of Ultimate down to $23/month, effective immediately. Plenty of people who subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate don’t play Call of Duty and aren’t interested in the franchise, so the removal was positively received.
But what if you don’t play Fortnite and have no interest in the bundled Fortnite Crew subscription? A pick-your-own plan could address this, or at least that’s what fans are hoping. If you’re not using Xbox Cloud Gaming, another option could be to cut it out. Or possibly people could pay more to bundle additional services, like the rumored Netflix collaboration. These are all guesses. So far, Microsoft has confirmed nothing about any such program. And even if it is real, people should not expect it to have total flexibility in terms of offerings.
The Discord tease
Sharma posted online that Microsoft and Discord are “teaming up again” as part of an effort to “make Game Pass more flexible for our players.” She didn’t elaborate on this, but said, “Some of you might start to see some code in the wild, and we will share more details with you all soon.”
Currently, Game Pass Ultimate subscribers get a month of Discord Nitro through their membership.
The Game Pass price changes were positively received by fans, but people should expect Microsoft’s next big Game Pass change to hurt, GameSpot’s Mark Delaney argues. It’s also been suggested that the Xbox Game Pass price cut is not actually the discount you think it is.