As per a survey reportedly sent out to players, Microsoft could be looking into an entry-level Xbox Game Pass tier, which would potentially support ads but also offer Xbox Live Gold at a much lower price than is available now.
Microsoft offers some of the best games on Game Pass, such as Obsidian’s recently released Pentiment, and while players are joining the subscription service at a steady rate, the current pricing is still a little too high for some users — especially with the current cost-of-living crisis. According to a survey reportedly sent out to players, the company could be looking at offering a budget tier with the support of ads.
A budget-friendly Game Pass tier could be coming
As spotted by Windows Central, a survey has appeared on ResetEra suggesting Microsoft’s interest in a cheaper Game Pass tier. According to the survey, it could be priced at $3 a month and offer a smaller selection of titles from the Xbox Game Pass library, a vault of past first-party games — with a six-month delay on new Xbox games — and most interestingly, the inclusion of Xbox Live Gold. Access to the Xbox Network (Xbox Live) currently costs $9.99 a month on its own, so to see it potentially appear in this bundle for only $3 is surprising. Of course, the money-maker Microsoft would be angling for with this tier is through ads, which would be shown each time you booted up a game from the service, but whether or not that could outweigh the loss of profit from the standard Xbox Live Gold subscription is unclear.
Of course, due to Xbox Cloud Gaming being part of the premium Xbox Game Pass subscription, Ultimate, the games in this tier would be download-only, but it’s certainly an appealing price point. Until Microsoft offers something concrete, we suggest you take this survey with a pinch of salt, and even if it is real, there is a chance that the company decides not to go ahead with it anyway.
Real or not, we’d love to know what you think about this interesting Game Pass plan. Drop a comment down below and let us know!
