A company getting new leadership will always lead to big and small changes. This new person will usually take a closer look at the business and tweak stuff to show things will be different and better with them at the helm. That's especially true when a company has become less popular and/or profitable before they arrived, so it's understandable that Asha Sharma tried to look like a friendly gamer when she replaced the former Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer in February. Sharma said she doesn't like soulless AI slop, seemed to tease the return of games exclusive to Xbox and more. Then it was only a matter of time before tonight's news happened.
The Verge's Tom Warren has seen an internal Microsoft memo where Asha Sharma states that "Game Pass has become too expensive for players" before giving us hopes of the prices being lowered again by writing that Microsoft needs "a better value equation."
It's been around six months since Microsoft increased the prices for Game Pass, so does this mean they'll be lowered again already? Our guess is no. Instead, Sharma might be alluding to the new, ad-supported Game Pass tiers we've heard rumours about for quite some time.
Would you return to Game Pass if you got a cheaper version with ads?