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Microsoft has drastically increased the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but certain retailers are still selling subscriptions at the previous price tag.
While Microsoft no doubt expected some blowback to a 50% price increase for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions, they probably didn’t anticipate such a massive uproar as there has been.
After the increase from £14.99 to £22.99 per month was announced on Wednesday, many fans have resorted to cancelling subscriptions and expressing their frustration at Xbox in general, in the wake of console price hikes and a slew of studio shutdowns.
While these price changes won’t come into effect until after November 4, for anyone who already has an active subscription, there’s a way of getting around the increase for the foreseeable future if you’re willing to lay down the cash now.
Across various UK retailers, you can still buy digital download codes for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at the original £14.99 per month price – and in some cases, even lower.
At Amazon, for example, you can buy a one month membership for £14.99, or a three month subscription for £44.97. The best part is you can stack these cards on top of one another to a maximum of 36 months, according to Xbox Support. Alternatively, you can buy them and redeem them later.
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You can buy these cards at the same price at Currys, Very, and Smyths, but the cheapest we could find was Loaded (formerly CDKeys), which is selling three month memberships for £33.79. You can also find discounts at Argos and ShopTo, with the latter selling one month and three subscriptions for £11.85 and £33.85, respectively.
For a comparison, three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate under the new price equates to around £68.99, so it’s a pretty massive saving if you buy these codes in advance.
Cheap Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deals
- Loaded – £33.79 for three months
- ShopTo – £33.85 for three months
- ShopTo – £11.85 for one month
- Argos – £38.99 for three months
- Argos – £12.99 for one month
- Amazon – £44.97 for three months
- Amazon – £14.99 for one month
- Currys – £44.99 for three months
- Currys – £14.99 for one month
- Smyths – £44.99 for three months
- Smyths – £14.99 for one month
- Very – £44.99 for three months
- Very – £14.99 for one month
It’s unclear how long retailers will sell these codes at their original price, but it will presumably only be while stocks last.
To justify the price increase, Xbox has thrown in some new incentives for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, namely the addition of Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite Crew, improved streaming on Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the promise of over 75 new games day one each year.
It’s worth noting the other two revamped Game Pass tiers, Essential and Premium, are staying at the same price of £6.99 and £10.99, respectively.
While Microsoft has tried to defend the decision, some players have noticed there’s now no longer a discount on Call Of Duty add-ons for Ultimate subscribers either, despite no official annoucement of its removal.
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