At long last, we now know when the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will be launching. On November 10, Microsoft will be unleashing their new console upon the world, with pre-orders starting at the end of the month on September 22. In addition to this, Microsoft also revealed some changes to its online subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. The most noteworthy of which was that they have partnered with EA and will now include the EA Play membership as part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which also includes PC. Speaking of PC, there was another little announcement that the company made at the end of all this. Starting next week on September 17, the PC iteration of their service, Xbox Games Pass for PC, will have its price increased from $4.99 to $9.99.
As you can see in the tweet above, the company is officially removing the entry price for the service and going into “general availability” next week. What this basically means is that Xbox Games Pass for PC is now leaving the Beta stage, which it has been in since it was announced years ago, and going into a full-fledged release to coincide with the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S. For those who are currently subscribed to the service, the price change won’t affect your next billing cycle. In addition, if you decided to subscribe on or before September 17 next week, you will still pay the introductory $4.99 price.
Considering everything that Microsoft has thrown at us these past couple of days, the price increase isn’t all that surprising. It’s also important to note that they’ve already implemented a top tier for the service, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which combines the Game Pass with the Game Pass for PC into one whole package. The latter is essentially being reintroduced for the new systems with a whole new deal, as well as some new content. With that in mind, the $4.99 to $9.99 price increase doesn’t seem like it will affect a lot of people, especially those who plan to aim for the Ultimate package right off the bat.