Xbox's new boss admits Game Pass got too expensive

Microsoft's new gaming chief Asha Sharma didn't hold back. An internal memo that leaked this week shows her telling Xbox staff, flat out, that Game Pass has priced itself out of reach for regular players. They know they messed up.

The memo, which The Verge obtained, has Sharma describing the subscription service as a financial barrier rather than a draw. That's a pretty brutal self-assessment from someone who literally just took the job. But it also signals Microsoft's ready to actually do something about it.

Game Pass launched as this incredible value proposition — play hundreds of games for one monthly fee. Genius move. Except Microsoft kept hiking the price over time. Standard tier went up. Premium tier went up more. Now you're looking at $17 a month for the full experience, which adds up fast when you're already paying for Netflix, Spotify, and whatever else.

The leak suggests Microsoft's thinking about restructuring how Game Pass works, though Sharma's memo didn't spell out exactly what that looks like. Could be tiered options, a cheaper base plan, or bundling changes. The point is they're acknowledging the obvious thing everyone's been saying for months.

This matters because Game Pass was supposed to be Xbox's answer to PlayStation's reluctance to share their catalog. It was the hook that made Xbox relevant again. But when your main selling point gets too expensive, you've lost the plot. Players have already voted with their wallets — some bailed, others stuck around but stopped praising it like it's some kind of miracle.

Sharma taking over from the previous leadership team and immediately flagging this problem is interesting. Either she's been handed a broken situation and told to fix it, or she's the kind of executive who doesn't pretend everything's fine when it isn't. Probably both, honestly.

No word yet on when Microsoft plans to announce changes, but the fact that this memo exists and leaked suggests something's coming. Whether it's enough to win back frustrated subscribers is another question entirely.