It looks to be mainly older first party games which have just a trickle of sales at this point, so no real financial loss by putting most of those games on the core tier. Halo Infinite and Minecraft both still sell fairly well, so more sales would be lost if those were on there. I'm sure those 2 and other missing first party games will be added to the core tier over time, maybe permanently or maybe via a games rotation.

I think Xbox console players really should make a stink about the price/features difference for Gamepass between console and PC though. It is mindblowing that Gamepass PC is the same price as this new console Gamepass Core tier, yet has the full Gamepass library and the full EA Play library, while the Console Gamepass tier, costs $1 a month more than PC gamepass yet lacks both multiplayer and EA Play. PC Gamepass subs then are getting access to about 17x more games than Xbox Gamepass Core subs for the same price per month, and they are getting multiplayer and EA Play for $7 a month less than console users. That is simply a ripoff, Xbox console owners shouldn't have to feel like 2nd class citizens within their own gaming ecosystem.

Xbox fans need to make as big a stink about this as they did about XBL Gold price doubling a couple years ago, they made such a big stink about that price increase that Microsoft reversed course in about 1 day. Xbox fans have power as long as they make enough noise. At the very least the Gamepass Console tier should include multiplayer, you shouldn't have to pay $6 a month more to get multiplayer on console. If they don't think a $1 price gap between Core and Console tier is enough in that scenario, which it really isn't enough, then rebalance the pricing on those two tiers, drop Core down to maybe $7 or $8 a month, and maybe increase Gamepass console up to $12 a month, I'm sure most current Gamepass subs would be ok with a $1 a month price increase if it meant they got access to multiplayer without going all the way up to Ultimate at $17 a month.

PCMR holds the dub again. 

All versions of Game Pass should include online play.

I do think Game Pass Core is a better value than Xbox Live Gold is currently. Name change doesn't bother but it will be the end of an Era. 

I think some console players are just annoyed about the PC tier really being the best option and cheaper (especially since there's no paywall to play MP like on console). But yeah, you're basically forced to get Ultimate if you plan on wanting gamepass and the ability to play online. But as Ryuu has pointed out, it's basically the same thing as before. Just get a PC if you wanna save the 7/month

Since I rarely play MP I might as well switch to GP Console once my GPU subscription runs out (in 2 years or so).
EA Play alone just isn't worth that much.

I assume they still ship new consoles with a free month or two of Game Pass Ultimate. I never used my previous one but I will need one for Starfield's early access, otherwise I'll have to use Game Pass Console for a month.

Somehow I need to time it about two weeks before September, so that I can try some of the digital-only games before all my time goes into Armored Core VI then Starfield. It's why I strictly avoid sub services when I can, as I have little interest arranging my schedule around them just to get good value.

Xbox pricing continues to be nonsensical though: They already missed a good chance to cut the price of the old Series S model and offer the new one at a competetive price, they're increasing the price of Series X which is already being undercut by PS5 sales, increased the price of Game Pass.. now they've missed an opportunity to add multiplayer to Game Pass Console and offer Game Pass Core for much cheaper.

They're really banking that Starfield is a generation defining title, unless they enjoy being outsold on a margin of 3/4 to 1 by their competitors in the console space.

Breaking: New Zealand Commerce Commission has approved the Xbox Activision Blizzard merger.

Guess could not wait till UK?

Not yet, people either misread it or jumped the gun, they haven't publicly published their decision yet, it is meant to be done though by now.

Major Nelson leaving
Gold changing to GP Core
Acti/Blizz joining the family
And the biggest exclusive Xbox has ever had less 2 months out.

Times are changing at Xbox.