A week ago on October 1st, Microsoft announced that the price of Game Pass Ultimate would increase to $30 per month. Now, it seems like that may not be the case. Well, it's not the case if you live in a handful of markets around the world where the price won't be going up, at least not yet.
Microsoft now says that the 50% price increase will only impact new purchases and not any existing subscribers in regions such as Germany, Ireland, South Korea, Poland, and India. This information comes to emails obtained by The Verge that were sent out to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers living in these countries.
At this time, these increases will only affect new purchases and will not affect your current subscription for the market in which you reside, as long as you are on an auto-recurring plan. Should you choose to cancel your plan and repurchase, you will be charged at the new current rate.
The price increase in these counties is halted only for a limited time. Microsoft still plans to increase the price and will "provide advance notice before price adjustments take effect in these countries."
The "local requirements" referenced by Microsoft may have something to do with regulations on subscription price changes. The Verge uses the example of Ireland, where existing Game Pass Ultimate subscribers with auto-renew enabled will still only be charged the €17.99 monthly rate instead of the new €26.99 rate. Subscribers in these lucky regions will be notified "at least 60 days in advance" of any price changes.
This means that, for at least the next two months, prices for Game Pass Ultimate in the mentioned regions will not increase. Everywhere else, though? Well, those price increases went into effect on October 1st for new subscribers. Existing subscribers will likely be hit with the price increase when the next billing cycle begins, which is "likely to be November 4th."
