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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate $25.95 Per Month (Was $35.95) @ Xbox

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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate $25.95 Per Month (Was $35.95) @ Xbox
Go to Deal
BrisbaneGoose on 22/04/2026 - 10:07 xbox.com (1454 clicks)
Last edited 22/04/2026 - 11:58 by 1 other user

I don't personally use Game Pass - came across this on Reddit and thought I would share:

https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1ss4j2i/xbox_actual…

tl;dr looks like you save $10 a month though new Call of Duty games may take a year to appear on the service.

I'm not across whether it's cheaper via a VPN etc.

Ultimate
LOWER PRICE
$25.95/month

400+ games on Xbox console, PC and supported devices
New games on day one, including new Xbox published games2 and third-party games
Includes Fortnite Crew, EA Play, Ubisoft+ Classics
Stream games at our best quality with the shortest wait times, including select games you own4
Play and earn up to 100,000 Rewards points a year in the Store with Rewards3
Benefits for games like League of Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone
Online console multiplayer

2Excludes Call of Duty titles

—

PC plan may also be cheaper:

PC
LOWER PRICE
$16.95/month

Hundreds of PC games
New games on day one, including new Xbox published games2 and third-party games
Play and earn up to 50,000 Rewards points a year in the Store with Rewards3
Benefits for games like League of Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone
Includes EA Play

Gaming Microsoft PC Game Subscription Xbox One Game Xbox Series Game

Related Stores

Xbox
Xbox

Comments

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  • ATangk on 22/04/2026 - 10:12

    According to this, its still a rise of $3 from 7 months ago. PC Is also up $3. Essential and Premium tiers up $2.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/xbox/comments/1nwjttr/australian_xb…

    • 24
    • BrisbaneGoose on 22/04/2026 - 10:17

      The number of unsubscribes must have been noticed/it's still a good step in the right direction. It's very rare subscription prices go back the other way.

      https://www.theverge.com/tech/911182/microsoft-xbox-game-pas…

      • 60
      • ATangk on 22/04/2026 - 10:21

        I did remember seeing that article but honestly too am a bit surprised they actually dropped the prices (albeit still a subscription, still a price increase and still scammed people who paid for a year)

        • 0
        • ColesWorthUnited on 22/04/2026 - 11:55

          As a loyal member of ColesWorth United, this kind of behaviour is what we applaud.

          Pity the pesky ACCC wants to stop this. Consumers can read the fine print and should have a waybackmachine like memory to understand that when we say “down down” we really mean “up up up up and down a little”.

          • 7
      • donman92 on 22/04/2026 - 10:42

        Let's not forget the Netflix vs Italy saga; they are entitled to pay the OG price they signed up for.

        • 1
      • QuickToThePointless on 22/04/2026 - 11:24

        Rolling back a sub service price is unheard of.

        Lesson here is to always vote with your wallets, people!

        • 9
        • nomoneynoproblems on 22/04/2026 - 11:30

          Eh not really. They’ve reduced price and removed a tent pole feature. They’ve set the precedence with COD. What’s next?

          • 0
          • QuickToThePointless on 22/04/2026 - 11:46

            @nomoneynoproblems: Lesson there would be to always vote with your wallet

            • 2
          • dazza826 on 22/04/2026 - 21:46

            @nomoneynoproblems: The rumour floating around is reducing the number of hours available with cloud gaming.

            https://www.reddit.com/r/xbox/comments/1so0ah7/cloud_gaming_…

            • 0
            • furythree on 23/04/2026 - 01:28

              @dazza826: thank god Australia got their shit slightly together with faster NBN speeds

              40-100mbit up is plenty to stream games from home pc if u need it. or local area network to go from pc to tv/mobile devices

              • 0
              • dazza826 on 23/04/2026 - 20:11

                @furythree: Hahaha jokes on me and all others who don't have access to anything but satellite nbn or starlink.

                At least Starlink is better than adsl2+

                • 0
                • furythree on 24/04/2026 - 02:53

                  @dazza826: i thought starlink wasnt too bad now? is the latency too much? ive seen videos of people gaming with it

                  • 0
                  • dazza826 on 24/04/2026 - 11:02

                    @furythree: Haven't tried in quite a few months but the cloud streaming while at home was a bit hit and miss.

                    This was before the quality changes on Xbox and Starlink offering more plans so things may have improved since.

                    • 0
          • Frayin on 23/04/2026 - 00:07

            @nomoneynoproblems: I don't care at all about COD. I'd wager the majority of folks who paid for gamepass didn't care either.

            If they take anything away that did actually matter, I'll just stop my subscription again. I didn't expect it to make a difference but it clearly did.

            Next time i can just hope it will make a difference again should they FOAFO.

            • 1
            • furythree on 24/04/2026 - 02:55

              @Frayin: i played a bit of COD but dont care for it. It was nice getting access tho.

              i think this move to remove it partially from being day 1 accessible but added later is a good balance. My personal issues are that it opens the gate for them to remove other stuff later. I guarantee they will do it for future AAA titles

              and secondly they jacked the price up first and then discounted to a higher low price

              • 0
      • locknuts on 22/04/2026 - 11:29

        I bought the few games I used on Gamepass after canceling my subscription. No need to sub now.

        • 3
        • PurpleMonkeyDwasher on 22/04/2026 - 15:44

          Yeah it's way better value to just buy what you want and keep essential if you still play online. So much rubbish on ultimate when I had it.

          • 2
      • BrotherEstapol on 22/04/2026 - 11:30

        The price jack was nuts. I unsubscribed, but this drop isn't getting me back.

        Stuff 'em.

        • 12
        • QuickToThePointless on 22/04/2026 - 11:49

          same. i had the 3 year wild turkey deal, used sporadically.

          baulked at going from $20 / year to 30+/month.

          now i just buy the odd title on sale and if i wanna play online halo/sf6 etc i will buy a monthly $12 pass to scratch that itch.

          stuff 'em indeed!

          • 3
        • [Deactivated] on 22/04/2026 - 14:17

          100% same situation and agree. Too little too late. Xbox user since the midnight launch of the first console. F’them, already sold me Xbox x and S

          • 5
    • Zythyx on 22/04/2026 - 11:02

      The rise also included many other things like Fortnite Crew Pass - that's still included, so if you care for that, then getting GP Ultimate and still having a bunch of games is very worth the $3 increase from back then

      • 4
      • Darkness666 on 22/04/2026 - 12:19

        Never play Fortnite, so why would I want to pay extra for it?

        • 2
        • Zythyx on 22/04/2026 - 13:27

          I never play 99% of the games in the Game Pass, why should I pay extra for them?

          Same question

          • 4
      • TheDukeOfNukem on 22/04/2026 - 13:33

        I don't pay for Crew (or Game Pass), but you're absolutely right, if you want Crew, that's, what? 17.55 or so a month? Game Pass Ultimate is a no brainer if you pay for Crew.

        • 0
    • vanreek on 22/04/2026 - 11:07

      Woollies and Microsoft have the same business strategy.

      • 1
  • videoman on 22/04/2026 - 10:13

    Can't you get it for cheap anymore with a VPN like we used to?

    • 2
    • randomguy1 on 22/04/2026 - 10:45

      yep, still running on my last 3 year Turkey subs. Hope they continue to work

      • 2
      • Mikael on 22/04/2026 - 13:36

        Runs out this year. Also jumped on the 3 year one. Not sure what to do after. Got a turkey account too where I get cheap games. Hassle with VPN but does work.

        • 1
    • longy317 on 22/04/2026 - 10:56

      My Turkey sub run out but I haven't seen if this still works to renew it.

      • 1
      • locknuts on 22/04/2026 - 11:30

        Haha 'Turkey sub'. Sounds delicious.

        • 12
    • dealsforlife on 22/04/2026 - 11:03

      Last year, I bought some game pass essential keys (India) for 3 years from Eneba, then bought 1 month of ultimate on top. I think I got about 18 months GPU with that method. Unfortunately, can't find that post.

      Try this

      • 2
    • ashanrath on 22/04/2026 - 11:19

      Last time I tried with game keys the VPN wasn't enough anymore. Haven't tried with subscriptions.

      • 0
    • nategasm on 22/04/2026 - 13:26

      Hasn't reliably worked since last year, MS has been cracking down on it

      • 2
      • King Steuart on 30/04/2026 - 22:48

        Stupid really. Most people doing it that way were not prepared to pay $36/month and will still likely be quite negative towards the new price. If the prices aren't working, why not just go back to a base $99/year to play online and forget about all this extra shit that comes and goes

        • 0
    • bcYield on 22/04/2026 - 21:17

      Any Israel or Iran subs?

      • 0
  • JarrodRebecchie on 22/04/2026 - 10:34

    It's good news, and sorry to be a stickler, but not a bargain. This is the new RRP for Ultimate as Microsoft won't include future Call of Duty titles from day one on Game Pass. Current CoD unaffected. https://www.eurogamer.net/xbox-drops-game-pass-prices-call-o…

    • 4
    • BrisbaneGoose on 22/04/2026 - 10:42

      Posted as a PSA - wouldn't call $25.95 a bargain though it's a substantial $10 price deduction.

      • 2
    • steve bennett on 22/04/2026 - 10:47

      The latest CoD has 1.7/10 user score on metacritic, the worst in franchise history, and 65% critic score. Don't think you're missing much by not having it day 1

      • 14
      • PurpleMonkeyDwasher on 22/04/2026 - 15:47

        Apparently Xbox lost a lot by including it in gamepass. However I'm sure since people had it for free and hated it they won't buy it at full price again!

        • 0
      • Menzoberranzan on 22/04/2026 - 19:26

        Wow did not realise it was that low. A big shame as the multiplayer is quite well done. Campaign was utter crap though.

        • 0
    • nikoris on 22/04/2026 - 19:37

      We got all these 'stupid free games added to gaming platforms' deals and you're being a stickler for this? Why?

      • 1
  • Coppermelt on 22/04/2026 - 10:38

    New Xbox boss lady said the service is too expensive on her first talk with the staff - hope she doesnt fire people over this lol

    • 1
    • BrisbaneGoose on 22/04/2026 - 10:47

      I'd say this is her doing - making the service more affordable. Those who care about CoD that much can buy it immediately, others will wait a year or not care.

      • 10
      • furythree on 23/04/2026 - 01:31

        u need to be way more cynical than this lol. ur giving them too much credit

        the reality is this was always in the works. jack up prices, enshittify features. Up to a point where u see how far the market can tolerate before theres negative backlash, then pullback so it looks like theyre doing us a favour. The prices arent even the same as before the jacking and now theyve removed tentpole titles like COD (doesnt matter if u play it or not, im talking about the overall marketed price/value)

        • 0
  • WhiteEvo6 on 22/04/2026 - 10:43

    Microsoft, we reduced pricing after increasing pricing to make you think its a deal

    I should have loaded up on cheap Live when it was so so much cheaper

    • 11
    • w33w00 on 22/04/2026 - 10:47

      The exact same situation ACCC is taking Woolworths and Coles to court over.

      • 4
      • Gabbatron44 on 22/04/2026 - 11:42

        It's not the exact same thing. Woolworths were price jacking before a sale.
        Microsoft aren't claiming that this is a sale. It is a new price.

        • 9
      • Vool on 22/04/2026 - 14:12

        Not even close to the same situation. They increased the gamepass price to cover the loss of sales of Call of Duty, but in the end they lost both COD sales and gamepass subscribers. They've removed future COD games from the service to get the price back down (though still higher than before).

        • 2
    • kml22 on 22/04/2026 - 10:55

      Sound like Woollies and Coles, jack up the price to x2 the normal price, do a 1/2 price sale to make people think it's a bargain, but Woollies and Coles are more extreme.

      • 2
    • Zythyx on 22/04/2026 - 11:13

      I Paid $60 for 3 years of Game Pass Ultimate from https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/784047 wish I could do it again

      • 4
      • jeffrufino on 22/04/2026 - 11:15

        Yeah that was a good deal, now I just have a steam deck and play offline for my games.

        • 1
  • w33w00 on 22/04/2026 - 10:51

    Remember: they wouldn't offer this lower price if they weren't still making money on it. For context, this is a roughly ~28% decrease in price. Imagine what profit margin Microsoft were making off the poor suckers paying the $35.95.

    I am stating all of this just purely on pricing alone, not taking into account "value".

    • 3
    • ItsMeAgro on 22/04/2026 - 11:59

      Sounds like the extra 10 bucks was mostly what they had to pay for day one COD access. Those games have been way overpriced for years.

      • 3
    • freefall101 on 22/04/2026 - 12:37

      It was always a stupid idea, they expected a whole bunch of COD players to subscribe to Game Pass and to grow their user base. Instead Game Pass users who used to buy COD separately kept their subscription and a whole lot of people who didn't play COD cancelled due to the insane pricing.

      Reportedly Microsoft lost about $300m from COD sales but didn't grow Game Pass either. Thus the reversal.

      • 3
    • Danthemanz on 24/04/2026 - 08:44

      That's not true. The entire Xbox program has been subsidised through Microsoft's other incomes for the entirety if it's lifetime.
      They are trying to get their subs back.
      Unfortunately i think its too late for most (well me anyway).

      • 0
  • Gryllis on 22/04/2026 - 10:53

    What a shambles. This is probably what the last price increase should have been, rather than going from $23 to $36 for Ultimate. But now it doesn't include the biggest day one release for a lot of people, so still feels like a loss.

    • 3
  • Bretttick on 22/04/2026 - 10:53

    Still too expensive 😂 wake me up when it comes down to $13

    • 4
    • botchie on 22/04/2026 - 13:38

      why the neggs, game pass is ass and $13 is about right price for what you get on it.

      • 5
      • Bretttick on 22/04/2026 - 14:50

        Too many Karen's here 😂.

        Keep em coming in 👎

        • 0
  • bugsbargains on 22/04/2026 - 10:59

    I wish there was a cheap tier suitable for booting up my Xbox One X to play a couple hours of MW2/3 every 6 months. The fact that the cheapest tier doesn't allow playing games online is absurd

    • 6
    • BrisbaneGoose on 22/04/2026 - 11:03

      Doesn't Essential / $12.95 per month include online multiplayer? (I agree that this is still too expensive though, compared to paying nothing on PC)

      If the next gen Xbox really does run a version of Windows, maybe Microsoft will ditch this paid online multiplayer requirement. They will have more competition with the new Steam Machine etc.

      • 2
      • bugsbargains on 22/04/2026 - 11:07

        It includes multiplayer, but only for games included in that tier on the Gamepass. So $17.95 a month is unfortunately the cheapest way to play non Gamepass games online

        • 0
        • ashanrath on 22/04/2026 - 11:23

          Nope, it's for all purchased games. Xbox Live Gold > Game Pass Core > Game Pass Essential.

          • 1
          • bugsbargains on 22/04/2026 - 15:45

            @ashanrath: Strange, I definitely could not access MW3 multiplayer with only Essential. As soon as I upgraded to premium, I was able to play. Must have been a different issue and coincidentally it worked itself out after I upgraded.. next time I resub I'll start with Essential again and see how I go

            • 0
  • nomoneynoproblems on 22/04/2026 - 11:03

    COD is no longer day one now. Still too expensive.

    • 5
  • Viospeed on 22/04/2026 - 11:09

    I used to buy for sub $5 per month with a Turkish VPN and Xbox Gold conversion. Can't justify the prices anymore.

    • 1
  • Jklaro on 22/04/2026 - 11:09

    I think its great as id wait for cod to be cheaper. So save $120 a year and buy cod when its $60.

    Hopefully soon they remove fortnite crew ea play and ubisoft plus. Get it down below $20 that be great.

    • 2
  • Insision on 22/04/2026 - 11:13

    They shud make $10 a month & can make trillions tbh

    • 2
  • urbancartel on 22/04/2026 - 11:20

    Nah they lost my subscription (hardly ever used it anyway) and not getting me back!!

    • 4
  • wrx5 on 22/04/2026 - 11:21

    looks like it is not 400+ games anymore. I see 300+ games now written on XBOX Game Pass website. Looks like they also cut down on titles as well.

    • 1
  • caitsith01 on 22/04/2026 - 11:26

    They seem to have not understood that a lot of people were only prepared to subscribe when it was an obviously great deal. It's now somewhere between a terrible deal and a very mediocre deal and has zero interest - cheaper to just hold out for games I want on sale on Steam.

    • 3
  • Alex221 on 22/04/2026 - 11:37

    Good news but $25 still a lot to pay

    • 5
  • JackedBargain on 22/04/2026 - 12:27

    I'm not sure if my calculation is totally correct but the cheapest way to get Ultimate came out to $19.47 per month for me.

    You have to wait for your current Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to end.

    • Load 3 years (36 months) of Essential for $102.95/year from JB Hifi. (= $308.85)
    • Buy 1 month of Game Pass Ultimate from Xbox.com for $25.95 to convert your Essential Game time
    • 36 months of Essential converts to 16.2 months of Ultimate (45% conversion rate)
    • Add 1 month because you bought the Game Pass Ultimate 1 month (17.2 months)
    • ($308.85+$25.95)/17.2 = $19.47/month

    I'm not sure if you can use JB Hifi Gift Cards to buy the Xbox Game Pass 12 month Cards. If you can, even better.

    • 5
    • mboy on 22/04/2026 - 12:41

      IMO Game Pass Ultimate just doesn't make sense to me on an ongoing basis (ie. loading up 3 years in advance) because there's just not enough that's added to it month-to-month that makes it anywhere near worth it, even after any discount you're getting.

      For the last couple of years I've pivoted to subscribing for a single month once every ~6 months, or to align with a major release, and even then there's still not much to catch up on.

      • 5
      • imurgod on 22/04/2026 - 16:19

        That's if you never play online.

        • 2
    • nategasm on 22/04/2026 - 13:42

      Costco has Essential for cheaper at $89.99

      But I also agree with mboy's comment that it's more cost effective to only subscribe month to month if you don't consistently use it every month. You can even use discounted Xbox gift cards for this such as from Costco again for $89.99. Shopback also have them for 8% off at lower denominations. Also can use the balance on PC game pass for even cheaper if you don't need the ultimate extras

      • 1
    • cumova on 22/04/2026 - 17:54

      Can you load Essential and get 45% conversion rate if you already have an active Ultimate sub?

      • 0
  • sharky_k on 22/04/2026 - 12:56

    The difference per year is pretty close to (or slightly more than) the full cost of a new COD game om release.
    Lots of people don't care about COD and if you do you spend the same (as previous pricing), but own the COD game outright.
    So all in all, a good change!

    • 2
    • AustriaBargain on 22/04/2026 - 17:30

      Bad news for people who bought into it to get access to the new CoD game each year day one. I guess it's probably a decade away still, but I wonder if the next Elder Scrolls will be on gamepass day one…

      • 0
  • Teh White Mamba on 22/04/2026 - 13:21

    No chance we are getting Elder Scrolls 6 day one on gamepass.

    • 0
  • SoTightEcoLPI on 22/04/2026 - 13:39

    I got this for the kids over Holidays. The streaming games is woeful and the games are only 1P that are normally 2P. That's on a 1000/100 connection too.

    • 1
  • botchie on 22/04/2026 - 13:42

    i bought ultimate probs 3 years ago and stacked up as i thought it was a good deal and my kids would use it, only to find out that they prefer playing Fortnite, rocket league and Roblox - i swear the new gen is going to be the end of gaming

    • 3
    • TheDukeOfNukem on 22/04/2026 - 15:45

      I mean, if you get your kids Crew every month, which is included with GPU, they'll surely be super appreciative? If they have their own accounts and stuff rather than using the mainer, you can still get the included 1000 Vbucks every month and gift them stuff. Silver lining, I guess.

      • 1
      • botchie on 22/04/2026 - 16:49

        yeah he said something about that but i dont think hes that super into games anymore, cant think if its a good thing or not - seems they all love roblox which is crap

        • 0
        • netsurfer on 22/04/2026 - 20:00

          They have friends and mates and they play those games. If it makes you feel better, a friend bought a PC with RTX 4080 and his children mainly play Roblox.

          • 2
  • H3R34TH4C0MM3NTS on 22/04/2026 - 15:01

    unless you want to just play around for a few weeks why anyone would subscribe on an annual basis is beyond me , your better off budgeting $311 a year and buy anything off your wish list that gets discounted, thats plenty of games to keep you busy with

    • 6
    • jjcf on 22/04/2026 - 16:24

      . I’ve probably played a dozen games I wouldn’t have tried if I had to buy them. Some hit, some didn’t.

      That’s almost a bonus on top of the games I would have bought anyway.

      • 2
      • H3R34TH4C0MM3NTS on 22/04/2026 - 17:22

        I seem to have the other problem, I've bought dozens of games on "sale" or "Discount" that I have never tried even though I "have them". ….the shame

        • 1
  • Erwark on 22/04/2026 - 15:11

    Keep in mind MS Store games (ie. Gamepass) don't work on Linux/SteamOS as they're not packaged like normal Windows applications.

    • 3
    • Booshbosch on 12/05/2026 - 13:21

      Yeah for those on handheld pc - need windows on it, no steamos unfortunately

      • 0
  • gviddy on 22/04/2026 - 15:39

    hodl. They will have to keep lowering it if nobody signs up.

    • 7
    • imurgod on 22/04/2026 - 16:17

      Yes!

      • 0
  • imurgod on 22/04/2026 - 16:17

    It's funny, I went on Xbox Live even before it was out in Australia, then subscribed to Ultimate GP from the beginning and never bothered checking it.

    When the price rose again, everyone I know suddemly started looking into how much they actually used of the service and we all went down a tier or two on principle.

    Now we've been fine on the tiers we ended up on, nobody is keen to up their plan again.

    Stupid move by M$.

    • 0
    • King Steuart on 23/04/2026 - 06:27

      You're still subbed tho

      • 0
      • imurgod on 23/04/2026 - 10:34

        What choice do I have?

        You have to have a sub to play online.

        • 0
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