While there have been many fears in the gaming community about Asha Sharma’s appointment as the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, one report indicates that the new boss might have goals to make gaming services more affordable. According to The Information, Sharma has ambitions that revolve around making “future consoles and products like Game Pass more enticing to a broader range of customers.” This means that she might also want to “offer lower-priced tiers.”
It is worth noting that neither Microsoft nor Sharma have made any official statements about potential plans to revamp the pricing structure for Game Pass. The company had introduced a tiered system of available subscriptions for Game Pass in October 2025, with the most expensive one being Game Pass Ultimate, priced at $30 per month and offering over 400 games. Slightly cheaper is the Premium tier, which includes over 200 games and costs $15 per month. Finally, Game Pass Essential offers over 50 games, and is priced at $10 every month.
Interestingly, the report had also indicated that Sharma had been in talks with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters about a potential partnership between the streaming giant and Xbox. This partnership would apparently involve subscription bundles.
“You would have to do it in a way that works for the consumer and works for both companies, and frankly, I think Microsoft’s still trying to figure out how to make the Game Pass bundle work for Microsoft,” said Peters. “But what I like about Asha’s thinking is, it’s all about, ‘How do we do more?’ And it’s already been exciting to watch.”
The decision had drawn quite a bit of criticism from many, including one of the co-founders of Microsoft Game Studios, Laura Fryer, who called the price hikes “greed over gaming.”
“I’m not sure that their leadership understands what makes Xbox great,” she said. “I’m not sure that they’re listening to their fans. They keep doubling down on decisions that make it clear that they’ve been in a bubble, and all this feedback doesn’t seem to reach them any more.”
“Xbox didn’t reinvent [itself] by replacing the old engine with a better one,” she continued further in her video. “They just abandoned what they had and started chasing what they didn’t understand…With this last increase to Game Pass, Xbox threw away one of their last advantages: they were the best deal in gaming. These price hikes feel like a betrayal. Greed over gaming.”
The at-the-time commissioner of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Lina Khan, had referred to Microsoft as being “too-big-to-care” shortly after the price hikes were announced.
“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.”
Sharma took over the role of Microsoft Gaming CEO from Phil Spencer back in February. The same report also revealed that Xbox president Sarah Bond was leaving the company as well, and that former Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty was being promoted to chief content officer.
