Overview
- Laura Fryer, a co-founder of Microsoft Game Studios, condemned the latest changes as “greed over gaming” and a betrayal of fans in a new YouTube video.
- Microsoft’s recent increases include about 50% higher pricing for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and a roughly 30% jump for the Xbox Series X in the United States.
- Fryer accused leadership of operating in a “bubble” with a long-running “yes man” culture, and suggested Xbox is drifting toward cloud services and away from dedicated hardware.
- She argued the brand has lost a key advantage by making Game Pass more expensive, while referencing Microsoft’s prior claim that the service generated $5 billion in revenue and reports that profit calculations may exclude lost first‑party sales.
- Following the announcement, Microsoft said the higher prices will not hit all existing subscribers immediately, and the pricier tier is also dropping a popular Call of Duty benefit.