Xbox Game Pass ‘Standard’ goes sub-standard: Games like Starfield, Diablo 4 go retroactively missing from the console’s Game Pass “mid-tier”
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service takes a big dip in quality and value for money.
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What you need to know
Earlier this summer,Microsoft confirmed that Xbox Game Pass is changing for the worse.
Xbox Game Passhas long been the key differentiator for Microsoft’s gaming business, offering an alternative subscription-based store against Steam on PC, and offering heaps of value on console against PlayStation with its day-one games pledge. That covenant has been undone now, though.
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Now, only users on the $19.99 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier will get day one games on console, with PC users retaining them at $11.99. The big change is to the basic “Console” tier, which has now essentially been removed for new users. The new Standard tier will start at $14.99 for new customers, and will include the Xbox Live Gold (Game Pass Core) multiplayer paywall specifically for premium games like Call of Duty Black Ops 6. Crucially, though, it won’t actually include Call of Duty Black Ops 6.
Previously, Xbox Game Pass' promise was to offer day-one Microsoft-owned titles into the service. Games likeStarfield,Forza Horizon 5,Flight Simulator, and many other heavy hitters dropped straight into Xbox Game Pass Console, PC Game Pass, and Ultimate, granting the service far better value on paper than competing options. Xbox Game Pass Standard no longer guarantees day-one access to Xbox games, meaning the hotly anticipatedCall of Duty Black Ops 6 will be available only to PC Game Pass users, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimatesubscribers. Despite paying more than PC Game Pass users, Xbox Game Pass “Standard” members will not get access to said games.
To compound matters, it was discovered recently (viaForbes) that Xbox Game Pass Standard has removed access to a wide variety of games that are currently active on the deprecated Xbox Game Pass “Console” tier, which is only available for users who maintain a subscription. If you swap out your subscription to gain access to Xbox Live Gold, which isn’t available on Xbox Game Pass “Console,” then you’ll lose access to a huge list of titles.
The list of Game Pass titles missing from the ‘Standard’ tier is as follows:
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Now you could argue that some of these third-party titles, such as Capcom’sKunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, may be licensing related. If they had contracts in place for specific tiers of Xbox Game Pass, not including this new “Standard” tier that didn’t exist at the time of signing, it makes sense that they might no longer be available. However, some of the first-party Xbox games seem wholly arbitrary. Removing offline games likeHellblade 2and Starfield, which likely aren’t going to sell gangbusters if removed, makes very little sense. You could argue that it would be better value for users who want to play online multiplayer games like Diablo 4 to simply move to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate anyway rather than paying for separate multiplayer and Game Pass subscription access, but it has blindsided some users who weren’t expecting to see games pulled from the service retroactively.
I couldn’t find any information out there to suggest that Microsoft hinted that this was coming, but I could be mistaken there. If you knew about this beforehand, do hit the comments and let me know where you saw it.
Xbox’s strategy is evolving at a breakneck pace
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Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division is in a weird place right now. Faced with broad collapse of interest in its Xbox console hardware, and suffering from the industry-wide reduction in playtime hours, Microsoft has joined other major publishers in laying off staff and increasing prices. Sony set the internet ablaze this week with itsPS5 Pro $699.99 price point, andMicrosoft followed up with the announcement of hundreds of layoffswithin its gaming division.
To find new users, Microsoft has begun supporting its arch rivalPlayStation by launching games on the PS5, despite previous claims to the FTC that Sony’s platform fees would be spent on marketing deals that harm Xbox. Microsofthinted that Black Myth Wukong skipped out on Xbox owing to an exclusivity dealwith PlayStation, rather than the previously stated “technical” problems. Microsoft also announced previous Xbox exclusiveIndiana Jones for PlayStation 5 at Gamescom, in a way that overshadowed the game itself.
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The pace of “change” at Xbox, mostly in negative contexts, is undermining all of the good will and momentum the brand had following the Xbox Series X|S launch. This latest own-goal is unlikely to help uplift Xbox’s battered image right now. Increasingly, you have to wonder if Microsoft actually cares.
Jez Corden is the Executive Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow onTwitter (X)andThreads, and listen to hisXB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!
