Having been known as one of the better values in all of gaming, Xbox Game Pass — the eponymous company’s subscription service — is shaking things up. And by shaking things up, what I really mean is getting more expensive. And it might affect some of the sports games you’ve been playing.
As heard through Eurogamer, Game Pass Ultimate — the highest tier of the service available — will be getting a price hike from $19.99 to $29.99. In total, there are three tiers that customers can choose from:
- Game Pass Essential ($9.99/month) – offering 50+ games across PC, console, and cloud
- Game Pass Premium ($14.99/month) – offering 200+ games across PC, console, and cloud
- Game Pass Ultimate ($29.99/month) – offering 400+ games across PC, console, and cloud
It should also be noted that all day one releases will now exclusively be on Ultimate, which wasn’t the case previously.
So, which sports games are affected? Well, quite a few. Including the games that players have access to through EA Play (which comes with a Game Pass subscription), here are all of the sports games that are currently on the service, according to the sports filter:
- Asphalt Legends
- Cricket 24
- Descenders
- Descenders Next (preview)
- Dirt 5
- Dirt Rally 2.0
- EA SPORTS College Football 25
- EA SPORTS FC 24
- EA SPORTS FC 25
- EA SPORTS PGA Tour
- EA SPORTS UFC 4
- EA SPORTS UFC 5
- EA WRC
- F1 23
- F1 24
- FIGHT NIGHT CHAMPION
- Fishing Planet
- Football Manager 24
- Forza Horizon 5
- Forza Motorsport (2023)
- Golf With Your Friends
- Joyride Turbo
- Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
- Madden NFL 24
- Madden NFL 25
- Maximum Football
- NBA Live 19
- NHL 24
- NHL 25
- NHL 94
- Pool Blitz
- Rematch
- Rocket League
- Rollerdrome
- Riders Republic
- Skate (2007)
- Skate 3
- Snooker Blitz
- SSX
- STEEP
- Super Mega Baseball 3
- Super Mega Baseball 4
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
While it’s not there right now, it should also be noted that Football Manager 26 will be included in Game Pass upon its release on November 4.
Is $30 still a decent value for a library that contains over 400 games? I’d personally say yes. That said, it’s rough times out there, and not everyone has $30 they can just spend every month in order to have a steady diet of video games. This move also comes on the heels of the service apparently having its most profitable year yet.
