Xbox Game Pass Tiers Explained: Prices, Plans and Cloud Limits

Xbox Game Pass comes in four plans in September 2026: Essential at $9.99 a month, Premium at $14.99, Ultimate at $22.99 and PC Game Pass at $13.99 (US prices). Only Ultimate and PC Game Pass get new games on day one, and only Ultimate bundles Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics (EA Play comes with both Ultimate and PC Game Pass). The next big change comes in November, when Microsoft introduces monthly cloud gaming limits of 5, 10 and 15 hours depending on the plan.

Game Pass has changed a lot in the past year. Microsoft renamed and reorganized the tiers in October 2025, cut the price of Ultimate and PC Game Pass in April 2026 while taking day-one Call of Duty out of the service, and on September 3 announced the cloud gaming caps that take effect in November. With Minecraft Dungeons II (September 29) and Gears of War: E-Day (October 6) arriving on day one, now is a good time to check which plan actually covers what you play.

How much is Xbox Game Pass? All four plans compared

Here is the current lineup, with features taken from Microsoft’s Game Pass plan page and prices from Microsoft’s announcements:

The Ultimate and PC Game Pass prices come from the April 21 Xbox Wire post, which cut Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 and PC Game Pass from $16.49 to $13.99. Xbox Wire has listed Premium at $14.99 a month and Essential at “as low as $10/month”, and the Game Pass Wikipedia entry lists Essential at $9.99. Microsoft notes that prices may vary by region.

Game Pass Essential: the online multiplayer plan

Essential replaced Game Pass Core in the October 2025 reorganization, and it is really an online subscription that happens to include some games. For $9.99 a month you get:

• Online console multiplayer, the benefit Xbox consoles need for online play in most paid games
• 50+ games playable on console, PC and supported devices
• In-game benefits in games such as League of Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone
• Cloud gaming, capped at 5 hours a month from November

Microsoft says plainly that Essential “does not include new release titles on day one.” It is the right plan if you mostly buy your games and only need online play. Some games require it directly. In its open beta FAQ, The Coalition says that at launch, Gears of War: E-Day multiplayer will require “a Game Pass Essential membership or higher.” Microsoft does occasionally add games to Essential: its September roundup lists the soccer game Rematch as joining the Essential library on September 25.

Game Pass Premium: the patient player’s plan

Premium, formerly Game Pass Standard, costs $14.99 and makes one key promise: new Xbox-published games join the library within one year of launch, with Microsoft’s fine print adding “Select games. Excludes Call of Duty titles.” You also get 200+ games, online console multiplayer, 10 cloud hours a month from November, and 2x Rewards points.

In practice, Premium works like a delayed version of Ultimate for new Xbox-published games. Xbox Wire’s September wave 2 roundup shows how this works. Ninja Gaiden 4 (September 17) and Keeper (October 2) are marked “Now with Game Pass Premium”, while the two biggest new arrivals, Minecraft Dungeons II and Gears of War: E-Day, are listed only for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass at launch. If you don’t mind waiting months for new first-party games, Premium saves $8 a month compared with Ultimate.

Game Pass Ultimate: everything, on day one

Ultimate is the full subscription. At $22.99, it is cheaper than it was a year ago, and it covers both console and PC. Microsoft describes it as including:

• New games on day one on console, PC and the cloud
• 500+ games across console, PC and supported devices
• EA Play, with EA titles such as EA Sports FC, The Sims and Star Wars games
• Fortnite Crew, which Microsoft says includes the current Battle Pass, OG Pass, LEGO Pass, Music Pass, Rocket Pass Premium and monthly V-Bucks
• Ubisoft+ Classics, which Microsoft describes as “50+ iconic games”
• 15 cloud hours per month from November
• 4x Rewards points, which Microsoft says can add up to $100 a year in Store credit

This fall’s day-one lineup shows why people pay for it. Minecraft Dungeons II arrives on September 29 and Gears of War: E-Day on October 6, both included with Ultimate and PC Game Pass on launch day. Bought outright, those two games cost $29.99 and $69.99 on Steam.

Handheld players should look for one more label. In its Game Pass roundups, Xbox Wire marks games that are optimized for handheld play with a “Handheld” designation, and both Minecraft Dungeons II and Gears of War: E-Day carry it. For anyone playing through the Xbox PC app on a Windows handheld, that is a useful shortcut through a 500-game library.

PC Game Pass: day one, but no cloud

PC Game Pass is the best-value plan for PC-only players: $13.99 a month for 300+ PC games, day-one releases, EA Play and in-game benefits. Two limits matter:

• No console access. It covers Windows PCs only. It does not include console games or online console multiplayer.
• No cloud gaming. Microsoft’s small print says cloud gaming is “not included with PC Game Pass,” so the new hour allowances don’t apply to it at all.

If you play on both an Xbox and a PC, Ultimate is the only plan that covers both with day-one access.

Game Pass cloud gaming limits: what changes in November

On September 3, Xbox Wire editor-in-chief Joe Skrebels announced upcoming changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming. Beginning in November, each plan includes a fixed number of cloud gaming hours per month:

Once you use your included hours, you can buy more through the Xbox Store. Microsoft has not announced prices and says it will share them, along with how to check remaining time, in November. The company expects the change “to impact 4% of Game Pass subscribers” and was direct about the reasoning:

“We’re introducing this model because the cost of providing cloud gaming grows as more people use it and play for longer. … We understand that for some players the practical result is a higher cost.”

Also from November, cloud gaming no longer requires a subscription. Anyone will be able to buy cloud playtime hours and stream eligible games they own on supported devices. Microsoft suggests this could help Xbox One owners play eligible Series X|S games without upgrading their hardware.

What 15 hours actually means

Fifteen hours a month is about half an hour a day. That is plenty for occasionally trying a game on a phone or finishing a session away from home. It is not enough if the cloud is your main way to play, for example on a smart TV or an Xbox One. If that describes you, wait for Microsoft’s November pricing before renewing a long subscription.

Is Call of Duty on Game Pass?

Older Call of Duty games are, but new ones no longer arrive on day one. In its April 21 post, Microsoft said that “future Call of Duty titles won’t join Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch” and will instead be added “during the following holiday season (about a year later)”. Existing Call of Duty games in the library stay. By that policy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, launching October 23, 2026, would not be expected on Game Pass until around the 2027 holiday season. Call of Duty titles are also excluded from Premium’s one-year promise.

Which Game Pass plan should you get?

• You buy your games and just want online play on Xbox: Essential ($9.99).
• You play Xbox and are happy to wait for Microsoft’s games: Premium ($14.99).
• You want new releases like Gears of War: E-Day on day one, on console: Ultimate ($22.99).
• You play only on a Windows PC: PC Game Pass ($13.99). It also includes EA Play.
• You play on both Xbox and PC, or want Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics: Ultimate.
• You mostly stream from the cloud: Ultimate has the most hours, but check November’s extra-hour pricing before committing.

How games leave Game Pass, and how to cancel

Game Pass is a rotating library. Microsoft’s FAQ says you keep access to a game “until either the subscription is canceled/expires, or a game leaves the Game Pass library.” Xbox Wire announces departures ahead of time. Eight games, including Atomfall, Sifu and Little Nightmares 2 Enhanced Edition, leave on September 30. The roundup also invites subscribers to “save on these games now before they leave” if they want to keep playing.

Subscriptions renew automatically. You can turn off recurring billing from your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com/services or on your Xbox console, before the next billing date. Microsoft’s terms also offer a safety net: if you forgot to turn off recurring billing, you can get a refund of your most recent recurring charge if you cancel within 30 days of that payment. This applies once per Microsoft account, per subscription product. Microsoft also says prices can rise “on at least 30 days notice.”

Bottom line

After April’s price cut, Ultimate at $22.99 is the plan most Xbox players will want if they care about new releases. It is the only console plan with day-one games, and this fall that includes Minecraft Dungeons II and Gears of War: E-Day. PC-only players get most of the same day-one value from PC Game Pass for $13.99. The fine print is where things have changed: new Call of Duty games now arrive a year late, Premium is a waiting-room tier for new Xbox-published games, and from November cloud gaming comes with a monthly meter. Check how you actually play before picking a plan.

Written byJonah Reyes

Jonah Reyes leads Pandromeda's gaming coverage: console and handheld hardware, release dates, pricing changes, patch notes and the business moves behind the biggest franchises. He sources every date and price from the platform holders and publishers themselves, and says plainly when something is still only a rumour.

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