On October 1, Microsoft shocked Game Pass subscribers by announcing a substantial (+50%) price increase for the highest tier , Ultimate, which jumped from $19.99 to $29.99 monthly. This led some users to cancel their subscriptions in droves , but did Microsoft really make a strategic mistake?

Veteran games analyst Joost van Dreunen, formerly founder of SuperData Research (acquired by Nielsen Media Research in 2018), offered a more nuanced analysis in his latest SuperJoost Playlist newsletter .

To start with, van Dreunen relays a take from a former Xbox employee, who said that it's a case of 'bad optics'. Certainly, such a massive price increase doesn't look good from the point of view of consumers, but the analyst points out that Game Pass had so far offered a model that could be c

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