Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "XBOX GAME PASS ULTIMATE PRICE RISES TO $30 A MONTH"

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠Join Analytic Dreamz in this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, diving into Xbox Game Pass’s major overhaul. Explore the revamped tiers—Essential ($9.99/mo), Premium ($14.99/mo), and Ultimate ($29.99/mo)—offering flexibility with PC games across all tiers, Ubisoft+ Classics, EA Play, and day-one releases. Discover new additions like Hogwarts Legacy (Oct 1) and Cities: Skylines Remastered (Oct 2), plus upcoming titles like Ninja Gaiden 4. Learn about games leaving soon, cloud gaming updates, and community reactions to price hikes. Stay informed with Analytic Dreamz’s expert insights.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Shepard, just look at the state of gaming, like, what is going on? Hold on, man. We need that job one more time. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming, like, what is going on? Ladies and gentlemen, when I tell you this is one of the most historic moments in gaming history, because not only have I been hearing insider reports as far as Xbox, well, this is an objective fact being taken out of Costco, But as far as subjectively, and, you know, the news I'm about to tell you being taken with grain of salt, there's other major retailers that's about to follow suit in Costco's way of taking Xbox hardware out of their, once again, supermarket stores. So that's already a huge red flag as far as the future of Xbox.

And then you come to realize the Xbox game pass. And you probably think it to yourself, well, analytic dreams you've been saying that Xbox game pass is one of the most cost cost effective ways to be a hardcore gamer and yes I have been saying that but as of four days ago safe to say my rhetoric about that has completely changed a whole 180 as far as my opinion about the Xbox game pass because ladies and gentlemen for some reason they thought it was a great idea to raise the Xbox Ultimate Game Game Game Game game pass subscription from 1999 to 3099.

Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Now, sometimes I think about it. And I was saying to myself, hold up now. Maybe it's because Xbox wants to, I really can't have justified. I don't know what in the world makes them raise the game pass by 50%. And then I looked at it. I looked at it even closer because of course when it comes to call a duty that's the bread and butter that's the reason why Xbox spent so much for Activision which I even covered um let's see if I can find that specifically active vision let's see oh they had a whole lawsuit that's crazy Microsoft moves close to complete okay so yeah um Microsoft spent I believe around 69 billion to acquire Activision they had to go through the courtroom and all the type of

stuff right because of course the other side which was Sony they was accusing Microsoft of creating a monopoly because if you have Activision which has call of duty that would take away the console parity because of course call of duty year in year out is the most popular game so then that came to fruition call the duty came on a game pass so we was thinking Xbox caught a monumental dub right And that's what Microsoft was banking on, Call it Duty to be a monumental dub, because you already know for every one Xbox series XNS sold, at least four PS5 consoles are sold.

So PlayStation is putting BTA on Xbox when it comes to the hardware battle. But now, when you look at it, Xbox has lost over $300 million in Call of Duty sales in 2024 by putting BlackOps 6 on the Game Pass. And that's reported by Bloomberg. So when you look at the key reason for Microsoft even acquiring Activision, it lost them $300 million. So safe to say, there's red flags all over the place as far as the future, not only the hardware, but the GamePass subscription.

That's the one thing I was giving Xbox as far as a monumental W to the point where I even bought a whole console because of the Xbox game pass. And for me, already about the year-long subscription. So technically, I'm still at the original price. I still have some time before I actually get off of the game pass. But for people who were subscribed month to month and for the renewal to be in November, as far as the price hike, it's very interesting how they could be so tone deaf

as far as how behind they are in the battle for gamers as far as console gamers. Now, that being said, the other thing I was going to get into, when it comes to Phil Spencer and him trying to do a lot of smoking, mirrors as far as how successful the game passes seemingly is starting to come to a halt a screeching halt because if you're raising the price the price 50% you can see how a lot of people are looking at

Microsoft and thinking to themselves why in the world would you do that unless you're losing a lot of money i mean Microsoft's been laying people off left and right which i even cover that as far as uh let's see micro soft yeah Microsoft i cover this back in july 10th of this year Microsoft was set to lay off around 9,000 workers And it was its largest cut since 2023. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? May 22nd, 2025.

I covered Microsoft raising the prices on not only Xbox consoles, controllers, oh, my fault, Xbox consoles, controllers, and then of course, games worldwide. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming, like, What is going on? So when it comes to Microsoft and it's pitfalls time and time again, safe to say this may be the nail in a coffin, because this was the unequivocal dub I was given to Microsoft over PlayStation as far as the Xbox game has. But it's safe to say, a 50% increase in subscription is taking that W away.

And unless they revert back to the original price, which there's a lot of info I just gave you to tell you, they probably won't because it's not like they want to. is really a necessity at this point. It's a lot of things working against Xbox. I don't know if they can overcome it. It's reminding me of when Sega was putting out consoles. And that's the same light I'm looking at Xbox because Microsoft is a whole other entity

as far as them being fine. Xbox specifically is losing Microsoft money. So now they may do away with the consoles in the hardware just to save for the overall Microsoft brand because Microsoft to this day has way more money than Sony so they're not worried about that they're worried about Xbox losing the money time in timeout and it's well day in day out especially with the reports from Bloomberg last year with Call of Duty losing them 300 million so I say all that to say this analytic dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with the

idea because we're going to see what Xbox has to say about what's new and what's changing with the Xbox game pass already told you the details behind But safe to say, watch this trailer and you can see why some people are upset as far as the smoking mirrors that you're trying to play right in front of your eyes. So let's get into this trailer without trailer. Let's get into the breakdown of what's changing about the Xbox Game Pass from Xbox perspective. Hey everyone, Xbox Game Pass is getting an upgrade. We've listened to your feedback and now you have even more freedom to choose how you play the games you want. Here's a look at what's new and what's changing. First off, you might have noticed some changes to the planned names. Xbox GamePass Core is now Xbox GamePass Essential.

Xbox GamePass Standard is now Xbox GamePass Premium. And Xbox GamePass Ultimate is still Xbox GamePass Ultimate. We explored other names, but they didn't work out. Of course, a lot more is changing than just the names. We've expanded all Xbox GamePass plans to give you more games and more ways to play and more rewards than ever. Let's look at the upgrades to the plans one by one. First up, Essential, formerly known as Core. This plan is expanding to give you more ways to play, including PC and cloud gaming. Previously, Core was primarily for console, but Essential now lets you play games on

Xbox console, PC, and Cloud. That means you have the freedom to stream and play on any supported device. And with cloud gaming, that includes a lot of devices. We're also expanding the game library so you get access to over 50 games. And of course, you still get online multiplayer, so you can keep playing with your squad. Another upgrade is that Essential now includes in-game benefits for some of the biggest games, like League of Legends, Call of Duty Warzone, and Overwatch, too. And with Essential, you can earn up to 25,000 rewards points a year just by playing the games you love. You can redeem your points for Xbox gift cards to get new games, add-ons, and more. So if you've got your eye on some DLC, you can spend points to bring home the bundle.

Next up, Premium, formerly known as Standard. While Standard was built with console players in mind, Premium was built with everyone in mind. So we're giving you more ways to play with this one too, with games on Xbox console, PC and Cloud. You heard that right, PC and Cloud are coming to Premium. With Premium, you get access to over 200 games. And when a new game is published by Xbox, it'll be added to the Premium Library within one year of launch. Premium also now offers the same in-game benefits for some of the biggest games, so you can instantly unlock characters, cosmetics, and more.

Looking good! With Premium, you can play and earn up to 50,000 rewards points a year. Plus, you get access to exclusive quests, and you get twice the points when you buy games and add-ons, so you'll have even more ways to earn rewards. Finally, let's take a look at Ultimate. The best thing about Ultimate is that you can play new games on Day One. That includes games like Call of Duty Black Op 7, The Outer Worlds 2, and High on Life

too. But now the best is getting even better. Ultimate subscribers will get access to over 75 day one games the year. We're also adding two new partner subscriptions. With Ultimate, you'll now have access to Ubisoft Plus Classics in addition to EA Play. And Fortnite Crew will be added in November. In total, Ultimate gives you access to over 400 games playable on Xbox console, PC, and cloud. And when you stream games with cloud gaming, Ultimate gives you our best quality with the shortest wait times.

To round out the package, you get the same in-game benefits you're used to. And with Ultimate, you can play... Now, the reason why I'm letting this play out is because I want to... Ask y'all... When did they bring up the price? Throughout this whole video, have they brought up the price once? Let's continue. And earn up to 100,000 rewards points a year.

That's four times the points you get with Essential. So now you know what's new with Xbox Game Pass essential, premium, and Ultimate. All three plans are designed to give you more value, more rewards, and more ways to play than ever before. And however you like to play, Xbox Game Pass has a plan that's right for you, because this is how we play now. So in that three minute and 52 second video, they didn't bring up the price. once which you guys see that's the problem 50% price increase as far as the game pass has to be one of the things you say even if you just briefly mention it but of course all the benefits that they wanted to focus on was to deter you from being upset over the 50% increase because of course when it

comes to Xbox as of right now I just believe they just may need to go as a third-party developer because if they're going to keep pulling and losing this type of money and pulling these type of tactics because they're losing money from the acquisition of call of duty that you thought was going to give them the upper hand then safe to say that at this point you just may need to try to take away call of duty from the game pass and revert the price back to his original standpoint because the main thing about Xbox game pass for me is not the same for other people like I think for me as a content creator game pass is really beneficial for me because I could try different type of games even though I'm covering all these different games regardless.

So for that for the average gamer who wants to actually play throughout their games and complete multiple games, they won't be going at the pace that I am as far as playing multiple different games. So if you take one game off, which is Call of Duty and only give like a maybe a discount to people who have the ultimate plan, but then of course keep all the other games on there because Call of Duty is the big one. But if Call of Duty is the big one and it's reported by Bloomberg to have lost you 300 million in the year of 2024 um because it was on a game pass then safe to say it's time to take

it off just keep all the other games on there i would think going back to the original game pass price but then taking call of duty off of it would be better than their current outcome as far as just that 50% increase in price another thing i was looking up um this right here so apparently this is the road map so i don't know exactly if this is the like the official roadmap but this is what the roadmap I pulled up. And you can see how me thinking that taking Call of Duty off of here wouldn't be the biggest deal, especially for like real gamers, because you still have a plethora of other games you could play.

Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Guide and 4. I remember there was one game I even, I played a bunch of games off here. Was it Wu Khan? Was it Wu Chain? I forget the name. But there's a bunch of games I've been playing on Game Pass. Hollow Night Silk Song, I believe I've been playing that on Game Pass. Like, there's just a plethora of other games,

which to the average gamer, who really can only play, like, realistically, four to five games a year, if you want to beat it, right? For me, who covers the entire gaming industry, I think having multiple games on a Game Pass is better than letting Call of Duty be the thing that sinks your ship as far as the Game Pass being more profitable to the average gamer.

So anyways, that's the main thing I was going to get into. As you can see, there's reason why people, there's a solid reason. and a fair reason why a lot of people are very upset because they didn't say the price hike at all throughout this video which you know if you want to say what's new and what's changing with the Xbox game has safe to say the 50% price increase should have been the thing you started with so um that's the only thing i wanted to cover i want to dunk on Xbox because i still believe they have a chance to revert back to uh what the original price was because they've been losing

even more money i mean goodness talk about making some of the worst decisions in the past four to five days game pass let me see subscriptions and this is last that I'm going to throw it y'all um the Xbox game pass if I can

okay so they said that the website to cancel Xbox game pass subscription has has overloaded it's overloaded y'all so um this was after the news

that the ultimate subscription would be increased to 2999 a month And since this overloaded, safe to say people came out with all type of statistics, which is very interesting. As soon as they made this announcement, I'm trying to see if I could find it. Because there's a certain number that people came out with. I don't know if I could find it. But let's see. Okay, yeah.

Well, it crashed because a lot of people was trying to cancel the subscriptions, right? And apparently the website can't keep up. Isn't that so convenient? You guys. See, that's the problem. I need my Cardi B drop. How convenient is that? Like, how convenient is that?

That the website's crashing right after you raise the prices, man. Sad day in history. Let me see. I was trying to see how much, because they, they lost a lot of money from people not subscribing anymore. Let's see what I guess. I can't find it. Anyways, I'm just going to look it out.

call it Mickey how much money is bucks lose canceling I like my research anthem nothing too crazy all right so when the 50% price increase happened a lot of people

try to cancel the subscriptions and then that caused traffic overload I didn't know that but let's see okay there's actually no numbers as far as like actually figuring out how much they lost as far as people as far as people unsubscribing but anyways the main thing i was

wanted to tell you because i already threw a lot of facts facts at you as far as how bad of a situation the xbox is in that's the main thing i was wanting to get across hopefully you enjoyed this breakdown as far as the xbox game pass um as far as my rhetoric on the xbox game pass being the most cost effective for gamers in a year of in the year of 2025 and 2024 safe to say that has changed as of four days ago so that being said uh click my link sure in my bio let me know one of my social medias what do you think about the Xbox game pass getting a 50% price increase and at the end of the day will you still be in the shackles of the Xbox game pass going forward