Xbox’s 2025 will be remembered for Microsoft’s price hikes and little else

Xbox can’t wait to get out of 2025 and start talking about the next generation Features (Image credit: Microsoft/Halo Studios) (Image credit: Microsoft) (Image credit: Mohd Syis Zulkipli / Shutterstock.com) (Image credit: Phil Spencer / Microsoft) (Image credit: InXile Entertainment) Lloyd Coombes published Generational failure Last year, when I ran the rule over Microsoft , Nintendo, and Sony , there were a lot of reasons to be hopeful for Team Xbox. The company finished 2024 with a flourish, with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle , finally sealing the seemingly never-ending Activision Blizzard acquisition, and there was hope that its big games in 2025 would show that it’s still got much to offer. This year, it’s been tough to see the positives. Doom: The Dark Ages was great, Avowed was another solid RPG from the ever-dependable team at Obsidian, and told a story that was unique, even if its gameplay offered little real freshness. South of Midnight Sadly, though, it feels like this was the year Xbox stepped on more rakes than Sideshow Bob, leaving customers with proverbial black eyes. And for those that do own an Xbox and haven’t moved to another system, probably some degree of buyer’s remorse. In the green I don’t want to spend this entire appraisal on Microsoft 's 2025 kicking them, because there were genuinely good things that arrived this year. The aforementioned Doom prequel was a double-barrel of laughs and offered intense sci-fi/medieval combat that many of us couldn’t get enough of, while Avowed was a smaller first-person RPG that packed in some excellently flexible character building. When the company held its Xbox Games Showcase, Clockwork Revolution looked fantastic, while the promise of more Final Fantasy titles arriving on Xbox, as well as a commitment to more big third-party releases, shows the brand isn’t going anywhere just yet. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. This was also the year we saw Microsoft remove any notions of roadblocks around multiplatform titles. The company traded Helldivers 2 with Sony for , put Forza Horizon 5 onto Gears of War Reloaded PS5 , and even committed to putting Halo: Campaign Evolved onto its once-rival’s system in 2026. Shall not pass The trouble is, Microsoft has long relied on Xbox Game Pass to be the glue that holds together its first-party offerings and third-party titles. Being able to jump into Black Ops 6 last year, rather than paying the full price on PS5, was welcome, but reports suggest that came at a huge cost of lost sales for Microsoft (who could’ve seen that coming?). Its solution was simple: take what was once the easiest-to-recommend deal in gaming and dial up the price . And, like boiling frogs, we suspect this won’t be the first time Microsoft turns up the heat to see how many of us are left in the pan. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate saw the sharpest rise, reaching an eye-watering $29.99 / £22.99 / AU$35.95 per month. Given that...

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