Game Pass was the best deal in gaming. Past tense might be harsh, but the service has changed significantly since the glory days of 2022-2023 when it felt like Microsoft was giving away the shop. Price increases, tier restructuring, and a shifting library have all altered the equation.

So is it still worth it for Australian gamers? Let me break it down honestly.

The current pricing

As of early 2026, here’s what you’re looking at in Australia:

• Game Pass Core: $13.95/month — online multiplayer and a small rotating library. This is basically the old Xbox Live Gold with a few extra games.
• Game Pass Standard: $18.95/month — the mid-tier. Larger library but no day-one releases for all first-party titles.
• Game Pass Ultimate: $22.99/month — the full package. Day-one first-party releases, EA Play included, cloud gaming, PC Game Pass.

For context, $22.99/month is $275.88/year. That’s about three and a half full-price AAA games.

The value calculation

Game Pass is worth it if you play a lot of different games. If you’re the type who tries a new game every week, browses the library looking for surprises, and plays across console and PC, the value proposition holds up even at current prices.

It’s not worth it if you mainly play one or two live-service games (Fortnite, Apex, League), only play specific genres, or prefer to own your games and replay them years later.

For most Australian gamers I talk to, the honest assessment is: Game Pass Ultimate is good value for about six months of the year, when the release calendar is strong. The other six months, you’re paying for access to a library you’ve already picked through.

What’s good

Day-one access to first-party games. This is still the killer feature. When a new Bethesda, Obsidian, or Activision Blizzard game drops straight into Game Pass, the savings compared to buying it outright are real. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Starfield expansions, and the Call of Duty releases have all landed on Game Pass.

Discovery. I’ve played games through Game Pass that I never would have bought. Some of them became favourites. The ability to try something with zero additional cost removes the friction that stops people from branching out.

PC Game Pass. If you game on PC, the combination of Game Pass library plus cloud gaming for anything your hardware can’t run is compelling.

What’s not good

The price keeps going up. Two increases in 18 months is a red flag. Australian pricing is already higher than US pricing, and the gap seems to widen with each increase.

Games leave the service. You get attached to something, it disappears from the library, and suddenly you need to buy it if you want to keep playing. This is the fundamental downside of access versus ownership, and it stings when it’s a game you’re halfway through.

The tier confusion. Three tiers with different feature sets is messy. Standard not including all day-one releases defeats the purpose for many subscribers. Microsoft seems to be testing how much they can segment before people push back.

Australian cloud gaming performance. Cloud gaming works on Game Pass Ultimate, but the Australian experience is inconsistent. If you’re not on a fast NBN connection near a capital city, expect latency that makes action games frustrating.

My recommendation

If you’re buying more than three new games per year and you game on both console and PC, Game Pass Ultimate is still worth it. The maths work out, and the convenience is real.

If you’re buying one or two games per year and mostly play the same titles, save your money. Buy the specific games you want and play them as long as you like without worrying about subscription timers.

If you’re somewhere in between, consider the subscribe and cancel approach. Subscribe for a month or two when a big release drops, play through it, then cancel until the next release you care about. Microsoft makes this easy, and there’s no penalty for pausing.

Game Pass is still a good product. It’s just not the ridiculous steal it was three years ago. In Australia, where every dollar stretches a bit less, that distinction matters.