GameStop defies Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price hike, continues selling at previous prices

GameStop announced on Oct. 2, 2025, that it will keep selling Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cards for $19.99 instead of the recent price increase to $29.99 that Microsoft announced.

Microsoft announced in an Xbox Wire post that all tiers of the subscription will receive a price increase. Essential will now cost $9.99, Premium $14.99 and Ultimate will now be $29.99.

This has led to a lot of dissatisfaction from Microsoft and Xbox users, leading players to cancel their Game Pass subscription en masse. The sudden influx of cancellations resulted in the Game Pass page crashing.

GameStop’s announcement regarding the retention of the previous price over the recent one was a welcome surprise to players still planning to benefit from the Game Pass. However, there are also questions about its sustainability due to the store purchasing more cards at a higher price and selling them for less once the current stock has been sold.

Amazon, GameStop, Walmart and Best Buy are still distributing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate monthly subscription codes priced at $19.99, with some of them distributing it as a three-month bundle for $59.

Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft’s subscription model that allows players to play games in their catalog for free. As mentioned above, there are three tiers to this subscription: Essential, Premium and Ultimate.