XBOX recently shook the fan base by announcing that there will be major changes to its popular Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
Users were mostly disappointed by the changes as it included price increases across every tier of the service, and the removal of the popular Xbox Game Pass for Console.
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The Console tier has been replaced by Xbox Game Pass Standard, which is more expensive than the original plan.
It was also revealed that the Standard tier will no longer include day one releases, but that online play will be added instead.
However, since the switch from Xbox Game Pass for Console to Xbox Game Pass Standard, players have noticed further changes to Game Pass’ value.
Before this announcement, Game Pass used to add 10+ new games every month with just a few of these being day one releases or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate exclusives.
There were eight games added to Game Pass before the price increase announcement on July 10, and just three games were added afterwards, all of which were day one releases, and therefore Ultimate and PC exclusive.
Even with the eight games given before the price increase, this offering is far weaker than the 16 games added to Xbox Game Pass in July 2023.
The disappointing offerings continued through August when Xbox added just six games to the service, including two day one releases.
People have been waiting for more information on when these day one releases will also come to Xbox Game Pass Standard, but it seems that it’s bad news.
Senior community lead for Xbox Game Pass, Megan Spurr wrote: “Some games coming to Game Pass Ultimate (day one games or other game entries) will not be immediately available with Game Pass Standard and may be added to the library at a future date (can be up to 12 months or more and will vary by title).
“We’ll continue to share with all Game Pass members when games are being added and available to play for each plan.”
There is no concrete timeline for when the games will be available for Game Pass Standard subscribers, but players are furious that it will be more than a year until some games become playable.
This is similar to the system that PS Plus has always implemented, but Xbox was previously viewed as the more consumer-friendly service as it offered new releases.
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