That’s
according
to
Rand
Al
Thor
who
was
speaking
on
the
Xbox
Two
podcast
alongside
Jez
Corden
of
Windows
Central.
Rand
Al
Thor
typically
isn’t
considered
a
leaker
of
information,
so
take
everything
said
with
a
pinch
of
salt.
During
the
discussion
the
duo
tackled
Tom
Warren’s
recent
article
in
which
he
said
Microsoft
is
“considering”
raising
the
price
of
Game
Pass
Ultimate
again
due
to
the
flatlining
growth
of
the
subscription
service.
Rand
Al
Thor
stated
that
the
price
hike
“is
actually
happening.
I’ve
even
heard
that
there
is
a
new
tier
of
game
pass
coming
[…]
but
I
have
no
idea
what
is
involved,
what
it
would
be,
or
what
it
is.
Pretty
sure
it’s
happening.
Don’t
know
anything
about
it,
though.”
Thanks
to
@GPTGamingNews
for
grabbing
the
specific
section
of
the
lengthy
podcast.
The
idea
of
a
“free”
tier
of
Game
Pass
supported
by
ads
has
actually
been
floated
before
by
Xbox
gaming
CFO
Tim
Stuart.
“The
vision
I
like
to
talk
about
is
we
have xCloud game
streaming,
so
you
can
subscribe
to
Game
Pass
Ultimate
and
you
can
stream
hundreds
of
games
to
really
any
endpoint
that
has
a
browser
experience,”
Stuart
said
during
a
Wells
Fargo
TMT
Summit,
as
reported
by TweakTown.
“For
models
like
Africa,
or
India,
Southeast
Asia,
maybe
places
that
aren’t
console-first,
you
can
say,
‘hey,
do
you
want
to
watch
30
seconds
of
an
ad
and
then
get
two
hours
of
game
streaming?’
Xbox’s
Sarah
Bond
has
touched
upon
the
exploration
of
different
models,
too.
Speaking
to
Rolling
Stone,
she
said:
“We’ve
talked
about
how
we’re
experimenting
with
other
models,
like
what
does
it
mean
for
advertising
in
games
which
is
more
prevalent
in
mobile
–
are
there
models
of
that
that
work
well
in
PC
and
console?
Are
there
other
models
where
you
might
have
timed
slices
of
games
and
stuff
like
that?
Game
Pass
wouldn’t
be
the
first
subscription
service
to
offer
a
free
tier
or
a
cheaper
tier
supported
by
the
use
of
ads.
Both
Netflix
and
Amazon
Prime
do
this,
for
example.
On
the
other
end
of
the
spectrum,
would
Microsoft
consider
a
new
tier
of
Game
Pass
or
major
revamp
in
which
first-party
titles
like
Call
of
Duty
are
locked
behind
the
most
expensive
tier?
Microsoft
don’t
like
to
talk
about
specific
numbers,
but
at
this
point
is
seems
very
safe
to
say
that
Game
Pass
is
losing
money.
Microsoft
and
Xbox
probably
don’t
want
to
go
back
on
the
core
promise
that
their
games
launch
straight
onto
Game
Pass,
but
by
putting
them
behind
the
most
expensive
tier
they
would
still
technically
be
keeping
that
promise.
