Microsoft is hiking the price of Xbox Series X and Xbox Game Pass

This is why I can't bring myself to buy into Gamepass. It may be a good deal now, but we see this happen with every steaming service. Lowball the price to bring people in, then keep bumping it up until it's not such a great deal anymore but people depend on it for their content. I'd much rather 'own' my games. At least as much as is possible nowadays.
- The amount they bumped it up by is still, relative to the price of a new game, cheaper to have for four months. I too don't have a need for it, but if they bump the price up to the point where it's not a good deal anymore, they lose their customers.
  
  Yeah very true. Microsoft is essentially trying to turn games into a subscription service, and that seems to work well for some people. Whether the current price is what will be the long term price is up in the air, I guess it cruedly comes down to which method gets the most money per user.
- Yep. Even as someone who frequently subscribed to Game Pass, I mostly used it as a "Try before you buy" demo service more than anything else. I calculated the cost of subscribing every month vs. just buying a game outright and taking the time to finish it (however many weeks or months that would take) and just buying the game during a sale turned out to be cheaper.
  It's great for discovery, but not a great deal if you pay every month just to play 1 or 2 games. Particularly if those games take a long time to finish, like Persona 5 Royal. The less time you have, the worse of a deal Game Pass is. That said, I still think it's good to sub for a month just to try a bunch of games if you're thinking of buying a new one.
- Honestly, if you play only a few games a year on release through game pass, your subscription is worth it. Even with the price hike, it's a great deal. You can also refill your account with cheap 3-months Xbox Live Gold cards for like 10$ for 50 days of Ultimate. That's usually what I do and I'm good until 2025 so far and will keep doing it until I reach 3 years, which is the furthest you can go IIRC.
- Take advantage while you can. Then if you ever want to drop it you can buy the games you want to keep for cheap.

This is where PS+ will be in 5 years...
Introduce PS+ as optional
Require PS+ for online play
Introduce digital only console
Introduce PS+ tiers (with the middle tier being most appealing to the mainstream)
Increase pricing, abandon physical games, full market control
The only thing that can stop this happening is either support of physical sales, or additional marketplaces for digital games

Uh, you don't raise the price of a game system half way through its life... you cut it to increase adoption! Come on Microsoft, you've been in this industry for over twenty years.
- They're not the only ones doing it. The components became more expensive, which hasn't really happened over the last 20 years. And from what Digital Foundry says, the Series X may be more expensive to produce than the PS5.

I was thinking of adding a series x to my collection but I can't handle these price increases for a current system that has been out for a few years.

Wait, so if they match PS5 pricing, then what's left for XBOX advantage over PS5? Bigger backlog of old games via game pass?

PC Game pass pricing will remain the same evidently
- And thank goodness for that, for now. Wonder if it's because PC gamers are still a small fraction of the subs?
  
  Probably. And PC Game Pass honestly has fewer games than console game Pass. I used to use Game Pass Ultimate on my Xbox One and my PC Simultaneously and noticed the discrepancy. Also, certain games worked perfectly on console (like Injustice 2) while they had huge problems on the PC version.
  PC Game pass doesn't just have a smaller catalog, it also has more jank, bugs, and crashes / games not starting. Still feels like beta a lot of the time.

I probably get the most value out of gamepass compared to other streaming services we use.
They could at least expand gamepass friends and family along with the price hike though.

Honestly though, I still think it’s 100% worth it. Gamepass I mean. I recently switched from console and got my first gaming PC. I literally leave it hooked up in my living room and play with a controller anyways.
Gamepass is a god send especially since I don’t have much time to play. I can at least try out a bunch of games and if I get bored I’m not out $60+.

I am fully aware we are in the golden age of GamePass. It's such a ridiculously good value right now it is almost inevitably going to go downhill eventually. I have ultimate and use it on Xbox, PC, and mobile a ton. It's like the golden years of Netflix 10 years ago before everyone pulled their catalog and launched their own service. I know eventually it will be bad, but I'm enjoying it right now. And extra $2/month doesn't bother me, but I know it isn't the first increase we'll see.