Tunic is a recent high profile indie to release day one on Game Pass (Image credit: Finji)

But let's be real: Microsoft will want to make more money both ways. The one reason Microsoft might keep Game Pass cheap is that the company gets a 30% cut of every digital purchase on Xbox-the profit of keeping more people in the ecosystem could outweigh the benefit in increasing Game Pass's price (and the inevitable loss of a few subscribers).

Next time Microsoft will likely just raise its subscription prices like it's boiling a metaphorical frog: slow and steady, and no one gets too alarmed. Xbox Live subscribers threw a fit when Microsoft tried to dramatically raise Xbox Live's price in early 2021, so the company quickly backtracked. A price increase seems almost inevitable once Microsoft has enough subscribers hooked on its library. But like any publicly traded company, Microsoft needs to make more money every single year, and Game Pass is a big part of its Xbox revenue. So far, Game Pass hasn't increased in price from $10, though Microsoft did add a $15 premium tier in Game Pass Ultimate, which includes Xbox Live Gold, cloud gaming, and more. Inflation can't account for that: The 2014 price comes to around $11 in 2022 money, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. It's almost doubled in less than a decade. In 2014, Netflix cost $8.99 for a standard subscription and $11.99 for premium since then the price has increased five times, and is now up to $15.49 and $19.99.

Xbox games pass deals