Xbox Game Pass Set for Major Overhaul, Report Claims

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is reportedly planning a “major overhaul” of the Xbox Game Pass service, extending beyond some of the significant changes she has already implemented, such as removing new Call of Duty releases from the membership.

According to Fortune, Xbox could restructure Game Pass to give players the ability to select features à la carte. This would reportedly include options such as cloud gaming, 多人游戏, and “add-ons for console-only games.” Game Pass would evolve to operate on a “tiered structure,” the report said.

This reporting follows another Game Pass rumor from September that claimed Microsoft would offer tiers of the service with or without ads. The same report said Microsoft would no longer release any of its games into Game Pass on day one, and that a Family Plan was coming as well, among other major shifts.

In April this year, it was reported that Microsoft was preparing to launch a “pick-your-own” version of Game Pass, which sounds like what the Fortune report is describing. Sharma herself has said she plans to “evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system.”

Game Pass was a big bet that did not pay off, Sharma has said, so it makes sense to hear she may be planning to overhaul it. She’s already undertaken efforts to change things up, including removing new Call of Duty titles from the program and lowering the price. Her team is also going to start charging people for more cloud-gaming time, and many are saying this will make Game Pass worse and more expensive.

In other news, the same Fortune story said Sharma was planning more layoffs at Xbox for this month, October, and January 2027. In total, she’s planning to cut more than 3,000 jobs at Xbox as part of her bid to “reset” the business. The story also included details on Microsoft’s plans to launch a new Xbox handheld in 2027 and a new console in 2028, reportedly at a price of up to $1,800.

What’s more, the Fortune report said several people at Xbox have seen internal presentations regarding the possibility that Xbox gets sold or spun off.