Last night, a rumor began swirling online that Xbox was planning to make some big changes to its game subscription service, including a small price drop, the removal of day-one games, and the introduction of an ad-supported tier. Those rumors spread after another prominent leaker, NateTheHate, suggested the person sharing the info likely knew of Xbox’s Game Pass plans. Now, the company has responded with an answer that doesn’t confirm the rumor, but also doesn’t deny it outright.
On September 14, ResetEra user Slayven shared a rumored list of changes coming to Game Pass in 2027. According to the user, they “know the person” this information comes from, and they’ve been “right in the past.” Here’s what Slayven’s source claims is happening to Game Pass next year:
- There will be two Game Pass tiers. One with ads, one without ads.
- Game Pass with ads will launch at $13 a month
- Game Pass without ads will cost $20 a month ($240 annually)
- Game Pass without ads will cost $3 less than Game Pass Ultimate because day-one new games are being removed as a perk. (In Feb-April)
- Cloud streaming will no longer be included with Game Pass
- Cloud streaming will be a $6 add-on for 25 hours a month.
- Family plan will be an additional $6 a month
- Online multiplayer will be its own subscription that will cost $11 a month.
Those are some big changes, assuming the rumors are accurate. And while NateTheHate, a longtime leaker with a proven track record, believes Slayven knows someone who ” clearly has knowledge” about Xbox, these plans are still just rumors.
But these rumors spread enough that when reporter Paul Tassi reached out to Xbox for a response and asked if the rumored changes were accurate, the company provided him with this statement:
“We regularly test different Game Pass offerings and look at what works best for players in different markets. We don’t have any changes to announce today or plans that have been finalized. There are no changes to previously announced games coming to Game Pass Ultimate on day one.”
That’s…not a no! Instead, the company declined to commit to revealing any changes today or other upcoming Game Pass plans. It did confirm that all games announced as arriving on day one with Game Pass Ultimate will still arrive as announced. But beyond that, Xbox’s statement gives the company plenty of wiggle room to stop offering day-one Xbox games after its previous commitments are met.
The Xbox game furthest from release that has a specific date attached to it and a day-one Game Pass promise is February’s Fable reboot. However, InXile’s upcoming steampunk action game Clockwork Revolution is also set to arrive on day one on Game Pass sometime in 2027, likely after February. Perhaps sometime in April, based on the rumor from Slayven’s source? We’ll have to wait to see how this all pans out, but it seems like Xbox might be gearing up to make the biggest change to Game Pass yet, and one that might mean a lot of people unsubscribe from the service that has, for years, provided day-one access to first-party releases like Halo and Gears of War.
