'Greed Over Gaming' Xbox Founder Comments on Game Pass Price Hike

One of the founders of the Xbox brand is taking Microsoft to task for its recent price increases on its consoles and Game Pass Ultimate subscription service, calling out what she sees as “tone-deaf” business moves that pay no attention to what the players want. The Xbox brand has been facing a lot of criticism for its business dealings in the past few weeks, and Laura Fryer has just added her voice to the masses in a bold way.

The current economic slump has been hard on a lot of gamers, with tariff costs combining with everyday economic hardships of modern living. With creators being laid off en masse, respected studios shutting down, and reports finding people aren’t buying many new games anymore, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future of gaming, but Fryer calls Xbox’s recent dealings a betrayal of fans that feels like “greed over gaming.”

Xbox Founder Speaks Out Against Microsoft’s Price Hikes

In a new video on her personal YouTube channel, Fryer, who was a co-founder of Microsoft Game Studios, criticized the current leadership at Xbox, saying she doubts they understand “what makes Xbox great.” Following the announcement from September that Xbox was raising console prices on all models of Xbox Series X and S, which went into effect on October 3, Fryer chastised the company for, in her view, never being as good as PlayStation or Nintendo at running a successful gaming hardware business. At the same time, she indicated that leadership seems to be clueless, trying to solve problems without identifying them first.

Fryer similarly gave Xbox leadership a verbal dressing down over the recent announcement of a $10 monthly price hike of Game Pass Ultimate, which equates to a 50 percent increase over its previous pricing. While that announcement came alongside positive news that included the addition of 48 new games to the subscription service, Fryer indicated customers were right to criticize the company for its decision and the promotional video that accompanied it, which promised players more freedom of choice in gaming. “I mean, they did give their fans the freedom to choose, and they have,” she remarked. “They left.”

In addition to criticizing price hikes, Fryer brought up other decisions by Xbox leadership that have left her confused. One of the biggest is the movement away from Xbox console-exclusive games, which she noted has resulted in a lack of identity for the brand. This problem is compounded, in her mind, by services and programs that let players play Xbox games via PC or handheld devices. All these things come together, in her opinion, to deteriorate Xbox’s relationships with players and developers and erode brand loyalty. In her own words, “It hollowed out the brand, because if everything is an Xbox, then nothing really is.”