Once Games with Gold stopped being a thing... So did my subscription as I felt it didn't offer me any value... That and I already owned most of the Gamepass games anyway.
..And despite that, I still go back to my Games with Gold titles years after the service "cancelled" or changed into Gamepass and have a blast.

I am trying to hold onto physical in the console space for as long as possible so that the retail market doesnt die completely, so I will never be a Gamepass subscriber.
Games like Halo I'll get on Xbox and play the campaign, but play online on PC as the online is free.

If that was "possible", it would basically be the old price again right?
15$+8$ (day1) = 22$  (it was 19.99$) 

MS/XBox was not happy with the 20$ price for gamepass and day1.

It once again happens right around Call of Duty launch.
They really don't want to give that IP away for free to gamepass users.

Maybe there should be a Day1 for +8$ (without CoD), and then a Call of Duty IP add for like +6$.
Maybe MS/Xbox would be okay with your concept, if the Day1 didn't include Call of Duty.

I've just bought Ultimate keys after the price announcement (which really isn't that hard) so that I have three more years to go. After that I will see... Right now there's no good option for me except Ultimate but Ultimate for that price wouldn't be worth it for me and much of the price is for stuff I don't need. There needs to be an "Ultimate" option without "free" stuff in games like Fortnite, without EA Play and without Ubisoft+. Just Game Pass games day one, streaming in best quality and the possibility to play on every device.

I checked in with my friend who has been a gamepass Ultimate subscriber for 2 years, and they said they canceled. It really was quite the value for them when they started, but now they say it isn't worth it.

Subbing to these subscription type services is pointless to me (and for others) if you have a large library of games you actually own through your account.

Reason why I could never get into any other service that is similar like Apple Arcade, PS Premium, etc.


I used to have GamePass through a demo trial - the concept is still good, just a bit too pricey especially with the current market.

Honestly even with the price increases, if you dont own any other game or own multiple consoles, I can see the value in subbing it but as a multiplatform user and a person who owned several games, I just cant see myself investing in it especially when there's places that sell you bundles of games for less.

Sure, you'll likely be paying more since you are buying if you do it frequently but you dont have to worry about games getting delisted from availability, can get DLCs, etc.

If your on PC, steam/epic reg. has huge sales on stuff upwards of like -90%.

Right now you can get:
Beyound Two Souls 2$
Farcry Primal for 3$
Doom Eternal for 4$
Rise of the Tomb Raider 4$
Code Vein 5$
South Park The Fractured but whole 3$ 
Detroit become human ~10$
City Skylines ~7$


Trails of Cold steel series is 50-60% off (get it now, if you don't already have it).

360$ a year can buy you alot of games, if you go patient and go after good sales.

Why didn't they buy keys then? Don't get me wrong, the official Ultimate price is crazy now and keys will also get more and more expensive but you don't need to cancel it as long as you still get it for the same price as before. I've still paid much less for Ultimate after the changes as the official price was before the change so that they could've paid even less as they did as subscribers... 

It really will only get problematic in the future but right now it isn't. 

I guess they aren't aware about the keys trick. They just saw the price was going up 50% and canceled. 

I'm just glad I jumped that ship (or a wreckage in this case) not long ago. With those prices and the amount of gaming I do, I don't see any value in GP (including the cheapest one). Not to mention that the consoles themselves are massively overpriced as well. The long term value proposition of the whole XBOX "experience" is laughably bad. If you go for the top machine and GP-U, after 5 years you'd spend the total of $2600 (that's IF we don't see another price hike ... I bet we will), and still not own a single game!

If you ever considered converting to PC, I can't think of a better time than now.