Microsoft has changed its $1 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deal. Instead of lasting the whole month before you have to pay the standard price, it now only lasts two weeks.
This was spotted by Kotaku senior reporter Ethan Gach on the Xbox website under the "Choose the plan that's right for you" tab. It now says, "Get your first 14 days for $1, then $16.99 per month", halving the deal. This follows the news from June that Game Pass will be getting more expensive, increasing from $9.99 to $10.99 per month for the standard subscription and from $14.99 to $16.99 per month for Ultimate version.
One Xbox player also claims that the monthly reward output has changed from 2,000 to 1,000 points. Players would grind each month to potentially earn a $10 gift card (or other bonuses in the point store), letting them save up for games simply by playing in the Xbox ecosystem. Now, Xbox Game Pass is going up in price, reducing cheaper trial times, and cutting the potential earnings of its Rewards system, making it a more costly service.
That's not the only thing Xbox Game Pass is cutting. Live is being phased out as the standard Gold model, which gets you free games every month and allows you to play online, is being replaced with Game Pass Core. It still lets you play online, but now comes with a much smaller Game Pass library, while the free monthly games are stopping altogether. You'll still have access to all the Gold games you grabbed over the years, but you won't be able to get any more.
Gold will be gone in September and the $1 Ultimate first-time subscription change has already gone live, both just in time for Starfield, Xbox's biggest game in years--the news isn't going down well with players.
For comparison, PS Plus has three tiers priced at $9.99, $14.99, and $17.99 per month. The highest tier is still more expensive than Xbox's after the hike, but PS Plus also comes with free monthly games on top of its library. However, new triple-A releases are not launched on the service day one as they are with Game Pass.