Microsoft Game Studios co-founder Laura Fryer has criticised Microsoft for their massive price hike of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Following Microsoft’s massive layoffs, which say over 9,000 employees cut across countless studios, Xbox gamers have now been hit with a massive increase in cost.
Speaking on her YouTube channel, Fryer explained that the company is stuck in a “bubble” at the executive level. The co-founder of Microsoft’s gaming division said that Xbox is completely out of touch with the modern gaming audience.
In the video, Fryer focuses on the recent Game Pass price increases, referencing the sheer number of gamers who cancelled their subscriptions in the wake of the changes. “In fairness, they got it right,” she said. “They gave their fans the freedom to choose, and they have, they’ve left.”
Alongside the rise in Game Pass prices, the price of Xbox hardware has continued to raise despite sales already struggling against the PS5. While Xbox started the generation focusing on affordability with Series S and cheap subscriptions, that tactic has completely U-turned.
“Not one fan asked for their Game Pass prices to be raised by 50%, or for the price of the Xbox to go up by 30%,” she continued. “This tone-deaf video is further confirmation the bubble at Xbox is real, with leadership that doesn’t understand what made them great.”
The former Microsoft lead explains that the Xbox executive bubble has cultivated a “yes man culture” that led to the company attempting to “bet billions on new content” with studio acquisitions and subscription services, and the company had no idea how to make it work.
“Xbox didn’t reinvent [itself] by replacing the old engine with a better one,” she said. “They just abandoned what they had and started chasing what they didn’t understand…With this last increase to Game Pass, Xbox threw away one of their last advantages: they were the best deal in gaming. These price hikes feel like a betrayal. Greed over gaming.”
Fryer also points at the new marketing strategy of “This is an Xbox”, stating that any device that can run cloud streaming software is part of the Xbox ecosystem. However, for gamers who have invested in the physical hardware—hardware the company is still planning to produce—can’t help but feel annoyed or betrayed.
“It was meant to be an inclusive message where everyone is welcome,” she explains. “But it ended up hollowing out the brand, because if everything is an Xbox, then nothing really is.”
Xbox Game Pass’ price hikes and new structure changes have caused so many users to cancel their subscription that Microsoft’s website crashed. When Xbox started the subscription service, Game Pass was the best deal in gaming and nearly everyone suggested it. Now, Microsoft have simply altered the deal, leaving fans to pray they don’t alter it any further.
