Microsoft is shifting up a gear in its Game Pass offensive – and without further ado reducing the prices. However, German subscribers cannot look forward to a cheaper monthly price, because the big discount is only available in India.
Microsoft is reducing Game Pass prices in India
India is a particularly interesting market for many companies. No wonder, after all, reside in the South Asian country nearly 1.4 billion peoplealmost as much as in China.
Microsoft doesn’t seem to have missed the potential of the Indian market either. In order to make the Xbox Game Pass even more successful there, the group has now come up with a simple idea: the subscription prices are greatly reduced. Previously, the monthly subscription to Game Pass Ultimate cost 699 Indian rupees, the equivalent of 8.30 euros, from April 1st it will only be 499 Indian rupees, i.e. 5.93 euros. For comparison: In Germany, the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs 12.99 euros, so it is more than twice as expensive.
The prices of the other Game Pass subscription offers have also been reduced. So on average Indian players pay soon 28 percent less. Xbox and PC only subscriptions and Xbox Live Gold are also discounted.
And what else happened in the gaming and tech world? We’ll tell you in the GIGA Insights:
Falling Game Pass prices: soon with us?
But does the price reduction in India mean that prices in Germany will soon go down as well? Game Pass subscribers shouldn’t bet on that. Microsoft has already stated the following in an official statement:
“We regularly re-evaluate Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold prices local levelto best serve the customers in each country. These price adjustments are based on local market conditions in each country. This is just a continuation of the pricing adjustments we are making in selected countries made at the end of last year.”
(Source: fonearea)
That prices in India are well below ours makes perfect sense when we look at the average income in the country. That was just $6,390 PPP dollars in 2020. For comparison: In Germany, this value is a proud 55,220 PPP dollars, almost ten times as much. From this point of view, even after the price adjustment, Indian Xbox players still have to pay far too much for the subscription.
Alternatively, our prices would have to rise significantly – and that’s what will happen eventually. If Microsoft has attracted enough people to the Game Pass subscription, the company will certainly continue to tighten the price screw. Netflix and recently DAZN did the same. Let’s hope that this day is still a long time coming.