Over the weekend, a Reddit user started a rumour that Microsoft had cancelled the next Xbox console, and the gaming community went into a tailspin. Microsoft then replied that things were not ‘up in the air’ and that the company is actively investing in its first-party consoles, etc. It takes a lot for a trillion-dollar company to make a statement refuting rumours, so read into that what you will. As far as I can see, Xbox is forging ahead with its next console, and despite more rumours about the upcoming handheld ROG Xbox Ally, it’s still up for pre-order. If it were cancelled, that wouldn’t be the case, would it? Lawyers would be queueing up. But either way, over the last few days, Microsoft has become the most hated company on the Internet. So what’s new?
Xbox Game Pass Price Hikes
I subscribed to Game Pass until last October, when I cancelled my subscription. This had nothing to do with price hikes; I simply have too many games and not enough time. Anyway, beginning this October, Xbox has raised the price for Game Pass Ultimate by a whopping 50% from $20 to $30 per month, which has caused outrage in the gaming community. In fact, the Xbox service was said to have gone down recently when there was a massive surge of users unsubscribing from the service. Microsoft has justified the price hikes, saying day one games will be included along with titles from Ubisoft and Epic Games, but this has not gone down well, with gamers leaving the service in droves. To be fair, the PC-only tier is only $16.49 for hundreds of games and many more benefits.
I won’t be signing up again for the reasons given, but I think it’s high time that Microsoft/Xbox did something to quell the outrage. Not only that, but also to show us whether the console and handheld rumours are true or not. Many are pointing the finger at Microsoft’s massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023, which resulted in huge layoffs, with many saying that it has created a monopoly.
Either way, the company does nothing to instill confidence, what with forcing everyone to create a Microsoft account on Windows 11 (instead of a local account), massive price hikes, and other unfriendly moves. I don’t hate Microsoft, but I do wish it wouldn’t keep shooting itself in the foot and, at the very least, draw customers in, instead of driving them away.
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