Microsoft lost millions of Game Pass subscribers last year when the cost of the Ultimate tier increased to $29.99 per month. Xbox brass themselves are aware of this, with one of Asha Sharma’s first actions being to lower subscription costs and refuse to release new parts of Call of Duty on it on launch day. But some players also use the cheaper service tier – Essential, for whom price is an equally important factor.
Well-known Circana analyst Mat Piscatella cited a new study from the company saying that more than 40% of U.S. users who canceled Game Pass Essential subscriptions recently cited cost as the main reason for quitting the service. However, price became a more important factor in subscription cancellations in the third quarter of 2026 than in the first quarter of 2026, even though Microsoft did not increase prices at that time. Piscatella also clarified that the study doesn’t show an increase in the total number of cancellations — we’re just talking about the reasons given by users who have already abandoned the service.
The Circana analysis includes data not only for Game Pass, but also for other platform subscriptions. Below you can see the percentage of US players citing cost as a reason for abandoning the service.
Let us remind you that until last October, the Game Pass Essential subscription was called Game Pass Core. Meanwhile, the cost remains at $9.99 per month. The Core subscription itself previously replaced Xbox Live Gold.