• Microsoft is upping the price of Xbox Game Pass for Console and Game Pass Ultimate in July.
• The price increase doesn’t affect PC or Friends & Family versions of Game Pass.
• This increase comes over a year after Microsoft dropped the price of its gaming subscription service locally.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers should budget for a price hike happening in July although the price increase isn’t all that much.

According to a report from The Verge, Microsoft is hiking the price of Xbox Game Pass for Console and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in July for most countries aside from Norway, Chile, Denmark, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.

Locally, Game Pass Ultimate will increase from R119 to R129 while Xbox Game Pass for Console will increase from R79 to R85. PC Game Pass won’t see a price increase from R79 while the Friends & Family iteration of the service remains priced at R199.

The price increase comes into effect on 6th July.

While we aren’t fans of price hikes, Game Pass is still relatively affordable even after the increase considering the value you can squeeze from it. Not only do you get access to Microsoft titles on launch day, there is also a multitude of titles from third-party developers to sink your teeth into.

With that having been said, if you wanted to buy three months of Game Pass Ultimate ahead of these increases, you won’t have to pay extra until that subscription lapses.

As The Verge points out, Game Pass pricing hasn’t increased since 2017. In addition, in 2022, the price of Game Pass actually came down for South Africa from R99 for the console and PC iterations to R79. Game Pass Ultimate also saw a discount from R149 to R119.

“We regularly evaluate the price of Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold at a local level to best serve customers in each country. These price adjustments were informed and based on local market conditions in each country,” Microsoft told us at the time.

Even with these new increases coming in July, Game Pass is still cheaper than it was at the top of last year so it’s tough to criticise Microsoft, especially with titles like Starfield set to be available on launch day through the service.