Along with having introduced new tiers for Game Pass subscriptions and raising the price for Game Pass Ultimate, Microsoft has also confirmed that it has disabled the 10 percent discounts that Ultimate subscribers could avail of for DLC of games available through the service. In a statement to IGN, the company has said that, in lieu of the discounts, subscribers will now get a higher amount of reward points for the purchases.
In its statement, Microsoft has clarified that Game Pass Ultimate subscribers would get 10 percent of the value of a game or its DLC in reward points. Game Pass Premium subscribers would similarly get 5 percent of the value in points. Along with this, not all discounts are going away. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will continue to see 20 percent discounts on some games available on the service.
“This is not specific to any one game and reflects all games and DLC purchases,” said Microsoft in its statement. “Instead of a discount on the purchases, Ultimate and Premium subscribers will earn 10% and 5% — respectively — in points when purchasing select games and add-ons from the Game Pass library. Ultimate members continue to have 20% discount on select games from the Game Pass library.“
“On top of that, all Rewards members will earn points when shopping games and add-ons on the Store, while Premium and Ultimate subscribers will earn even more, 2x and 4x respectively. See more detail on the Game Pass Rewards program here.”
On the official website for the Game Pass Rewards program, Microsoft has noted that Premium subscribers can earn a maximum of $50 worth of reward points in a single year, while Ultimate subscribers can earn up to $100 worth of points. These points can be spent on a variety of things, like Xbox Gift Cards or getting entry in to a sweepstake. There will soon also be a way to spent the points to to supplement real-world money when purchasing a game through Microsoft Store.
Microsoft has been seeing quite a bit of criticism with its recent move of making subscriptions to Game Pass Ultimate more expensive. Recently, even former head of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – Lina Khan – spoke out against the company, calling it “too-big-to-care” in its move to raise the prices.
“Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been followed by significant price hikes and layoffs, harming both gamers and developers,” wrote Khan. “As we’ve seen across sectors, increasing market consolidation and increasing prices often go hand-in-hand. As dominant firms become too-big-to-care, they can make things worse for their customers without having to worry about the consequences.”
The new tiers for Game Pass are Essential, Premium and Ultimate, and are priced at $9.99, $14.99 and $29.99 per month respectively. Being the most expensive tier, a Game Pass Ultimate subscription brings with it a host of benefits, including access to Ubisoft+ Classics and EA Play, as well as access to more than 400 titles and the ability to play first-party releases on day one.
