Xbox Game Pass prices will increase worldwide this week. Today, Microsoft is raising the price of its subscription service in most of the 40 countries where the digital platform is available.

In the US, Games Pass Ultimate subscribers will pay $16.99 to $19.99 per month, in the UK the price will increase from £12.99 to £14.99, and in Australia from 19.95p/m to 22.95p/m.

Prices for the most basic subscription tier, Game Pass Core, are also increasing: a 12-month subscription now costs $74.99p/m (up from $59.99), £55.99p/m in the UK (up from £49.99), A$89.95 in Australia dollars (up from A$89.95).

Indeed, Microsoft recently had one of its strongest Xbox Showcase presentations in years, but a price increase for a service that seems to have had few games to talk about since "Starfield" launched last year is not exactly welcome It is not something that can be done.

If you are an existing Game Pass subscriber, this price change will not take effect until September 12. Is this the last major change to be made to this service, as it appears that Xbox Game Pass for Console plans will no longer be offered to new subscribers.

According to Engadget, Game Pass subscriber growth has been slow lately, with only 9 million more subscribers in the past two years, and even though the service could soon be flooded with classic games after the Activision and Blizzard acquisitions are completed, the price jump in price will not make Game Pass any more attractive.

Perhaps the price adjustment has something to do with Game Pass coming to Fire Stick TV this week; the Xbox app is currently available for download on both Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Stick 4K in 25 countries and is Bluetooth-enabled controller is all you need to play some of the best Xbox Series X games.

Making the game pass more expensive seems like a bit of a strange decision from Microsoft, as the PS5 continues to dominate the Series X and Xbox Series S in the sales department for this generation of consoles. In any case, Xbox may be looking for something akin to "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle" right now.