Forbes: “It’s a bit…abrupt to stop the $1 deal without a “different marketing promotion for new members” to replace it. This has naturally set off a period of console war flaming about how it’s a sign Game Pass is desperate for cash and wants all that money up front without the $1 trial in place.
I don’t necessarily read it that way, but I do see it as a changing sign of the times based on Microsoft’s upcoming catalogue.
What I think is happening here is tied to Microsoft’s pending slate of games, which is moving into Sony territory with big-budget, mostly single player/co-op games. We have Redfall being released in just over a month on May 2. We have Starfield being released on September 6, less than six months away.
My guess here is that Microsoft does not want a bunch of people signing up for the $1 Game Pass trial just for these games during their launch month, beating them, then cancelling the subscription. Both of these games are hugely high-profile releases for Microsoft’s biggest acquired studio so far (Bethesda, given that the Activision deal isn’t done yet), and if you’re going to sub to Game Pass for them, Microsoft wants that $15, not $1 with a pending cancellation on the way a few weeks later.“