Summary
Microsoft is scrapping the plan to take away freeXbox Game Pass Ultimatesubscriptions from its employees, but only for a while, according to a leaked memo from Phil Spencer. SomeMicrosoft employees were reportedly informed they were losing their Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefitearlier this week, which is said to have prompted pushback from a portion of the tech giant’s workforce.
All Microsoft staffers have long been able to get free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions by periodically claiming promo codes from one of the company’s internal sites. The conglomerate recently communicated its intentions to take away that benefit from the vast majority of its 238,000 employees come January 2024. Only Microsoft Gaming staffers, including those working in thenewly reorganized Xbox division, were planned to be exempt from the change.
RELATED:Xbox Game Pass Adding Former PlayStation Console Exclusive on November 28
Following some internal pushback, the company decided to revert that decision, and will continue providing the entirety of its workforce with free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions for the time being. That’s according to a newly leaked internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. The note,obtained by The Verge, saw the executive clarify that “no change will be made to Game Pass availability [for Microsoft employees] in 2024.” Spencer also apologized for “the questions and confusion” stemming from the original decision as part of the same memo, all the while thanking the staff for continuing to support Xbox.
Spencer previously took to Microsoft’s internal messaging platform to state that he was not aware of the plan to take away this employee benefit, explaining how he was personally looking into the matter. His newly leaked follow-up also saw the executive thank the staffers for allowing him the time to “get up to speed” about the situation. And while both of those remarks are a strong indication that the decision did not originate from Spencer or his immediate circle of executives, the fact that his subsequent memo explicitly states how this reversal only applies to 2024 suggests Microsoft might still revisit the plan to take away freeXbox Game Pass Ultimatesubscriptions from its employees in the future.
No change will be made to Game Pass availability [for Microsoft employees] in 2024.
The benefit was available to the company’s staffers sinceXbox Game Pass Ultimate launched in June 2019. Back then, the top tier of the subscription service was priced at $14.99.
Microsoftraised the price of Xbox Game Passfor the first time ever this July. Monthly Ultimate subscriptions were adjusted to $16.99 as part of that move, while the basic tier of the service is now priced at $10.99, up from $9.99.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft’s flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.
