XBOX About to Take Game Pass Apart—Piece by Piece

For years, Xbox Game Pass has promoted a simple idea: instead of paying $70 for a single game, you can pay a monthly fee and get access to a large library, including new Xbox first-party games on release day. This approach made Game Pass one of the most popular gaming subscriptions. But new leaks and rumors suggest Xbox may be planning major changes.

One of the biggest rumored changes is a cheaper Game Pass tier that includes ads. This new plan would cost $12.99 per month, making it less expensive than the current higher-tier options. In exchange for the lower price, subscribers would see ads, similar to Netflix and Hulu.

Although ads are now common on many subscription services, adding them to Game Pass would still be a significant change for Microsoft's gaming platform. Another, more debated rumor concerns first-party games. Reports say an ad-free Game Pass plan could cost $19.99 per month, but Xbox might stop offering new first-party games on release day.

This change could happen between February and April, though there is no official word yet on the timing or whether it will happen at all. This would be a major shift from what made Game Pass popular in the first place. Getting new Xbox first-party games on release day has been a major reason people subscribe instead of buying games one by one.

Removing that perk could really change what makes the subscription valuable. Cloud gaming might also be split off from the main Game Pass package. According to rumors, Xbox could offer cloud streaming as its own service for $5.99 per month, giving subscribers 25 hours of streaming time.

If true, this would make a feature once included with Game Pass a separate, limited option. The rumored changes go further. A family plan add-on might cost an extra $5.99 per month. There could also be a $14.99 tier that combines the Game Pass library with multiplayer access.

Multiplayer alone may become its own subscription for $10.99 per month.

All these rumored changes suggest Xbox may be moving away from the idea that one subscription gives you everything. Instead, players could pick and pay for only the features they want. To get something similar to the full Game Pass experience, you'd need to combine several different subscriptions.

This is where the main issue could come up. Xbox has spent years telling players they don't need to buy games one at a time because Game Pass is a better option. If day-one first-party releases go away, Microsoft would be changing that promise. People used to getting Xbox's best games through their subscription might now have to buy them separately or pay more to access them.

Xbox has not officially confirmed any of these changes, so take the rumored prices and the February-to-April timeline with caution. The details could change, or some plans might not happen at all. Still, if even some of these changes are true, Game Pass could face its biggest shift yet, and Xbox will need to show subscribers the new model is worth the cost.