The changes that came to Xbox Game Pass continue to be more pressing as 2026 continues to roll out. In November, Microsoft transitioned the service to a new branding with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate now costing $30 per month. The firm went on to address that decision was made based on “what they’re asking for” to be featured in the service.
Another aspect is the return from featuring major IPs in the subscription. One being Call of Duty: it was reported that the addition of the franchise to Xbox Game Pass cost Microsoft $300 million annually with Black Ops 6 and likely Black Ops 7 as well. It was recently reported that it is being considered to not continue this for Xbox Game Pass.
Additionally, other tiers have been tossed around outside of Essential, Premium, PC, and Ultimate. One is a cloud streaming tier which would be a free option with ads being included. Now recently, it was uncovered by dataminer @redphx on X that a new tier option is underway at Microsoft. It is revealed that a first-party only tier, codenamed ‘Trion’, is in the backend at the Xbox firm.
Gathered from the datamine, it is understood only Xbox Game Studios games are included in this option. So franchises like Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and its list of published releases are only categorized under Trion. So other major additions to Xbox Game Pass like Hollow Knight Silksong, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Hades II would not be included.
More details on the cloud streaming tier for Xbox Game Pass does show more hesitation than Trion. It was reported in October that it would only consist of five hours of playtime per month. It is unsure if that was only entailed for the internal testing or be part of the complete business model upon release. You can read the full report by heading here.
Do you see yourself picking up this Xbox exclusive Game Pass tier?
