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you. This is the beginning of the end. The beginning of the end of the advantage for the Xbox. Man, it's been a rough year for us Xbox fans. Am I right? Between the record-breaking number of layoffs, the cold sociopathic response to them from Xbox leadership. Bro, you got laid off. That's so crazy. Can you input your experience into our AI chat model? Thank you. And by the way, go have sex with yourself. From the multiple high-profile game cancellations, including Perfect Dark and Ever Wild, the various and arbitrary studio shutdowns, such as one founded by John Romero, the not one but two price increases to Xbox consoles that reveal that their new mobile device, the ROG Ally, is going to retail for $1,000.
Oh, hell no, Microsoft. their attempts to sell Outer Worlds 2 for 80 bucks before going back on that. I mean, geez, finding a sliver of positive Xbox news is like trying to find a needle in the [__] stack. My hands are covered in feces. Things are looking grim. I'm not going to lie. But through thick and thin over the last eight years, you know, Microsoft has had an ace up their sleeve. That's right, Game Pass. No matter how awful the other parts of the Xbox brand are doing, you can always count on all reliable to be the best deal in gaming. As long as Game Pass is going strong, I think Xbox can weather the storm because it's really a Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price rises to $30 a month, a 50% increase.
You [__] idiots. Part two. Today is the day that Xbox died. You done [__] it up. You done [__] it up, Microsoft. Xbox Game Pass is getting an upgrade. We've listened to your feedback. Translation. Give us money. God damn it. Tactical nuke incoming. I don't know who is in charge right now over at Xbox, but they done [__] it up. That's the truth. They done [__] it up. My god. What have you done? We gave you a chance after all the [__] you pulled after shutting down Tango Games and Hi-Fi Rush. We gave you one last final shot, one last Hail Mary to try and unfuck this brand and this company and redeem yourselves.
I gave you all I had. I did. And what have you done with this last chance? You threw it back in our faces. Well, guess it's time for a much needed wardrobe change. What do you guys think? Do you think this bootleg [__] Mario Kart hat or maybe a PlayStation hat? No, I can't wear this. This ain't me. The reaction to this Game Pass price increase has been wild to witness. We are watching Xbox as a brand in its death now. So, let's dive straight into the agonizing death of Xbox. Or should I call this the inevitable destruction of Xbox? Welcome to the never ever ending decline of Xbox part five or six. What are we on now?
It hurts. The Microsoft infection has finally consumed Xbox whole. This is the convergence event. They have been made whole and the results are horrifying. The main reason Xbox was able to succeed at all was because Microsoft executives and all those out ofouch people more or less left it alone. But now that Xbox leadership has been thoroughly infiltrated by Microsoft people, it's no longer Xbox. It's Microsoft gaming. This console and brand is so tarnished it can't even beat Marget. The price increase to Game Pass totals up to a painfully ironic $360 a year. Sir, permission to load this rifle. For what purpose, Master Act? to
give my brain back this bullet. Permission granted. Guess you could say we've come full circle. I have to laugh through the pain, otherwise it'll hurt. Xbox $360 a year. And for those reasons, I'm out. Seriously, at this point, just save your money and buy games so that you can own them. Man, [__] Game Pass. All my homies hate Game Pass. I canled my subscription that I had for several years. Coming off the heels of our incredible efforts to stop killing games, by the way, I believe it is time to once again channel our voices and vote with our wallets.
[__] man. We got over 1.4 million signatures on that bad boy. But unlike that petition, canceling your Game Pass subscription is actually going to save you money. That's why I highly encourage anybody who wants to take a stance against these rampant anti-consumer practices uh to cancel your subscription as well. If you don't like this, that's how you send the message. It's about sending a message. I'm doing my part. Are you? And by the way, you should join my public Discord server. We're trying to get 20,000 members there. And I think we can do it. If you want to stay up to date on everything and hang out with my cool
community, it's the perfect place. Link down in the description. It seems society has never been more prepared to vote with their wallets or organize a grassroots effort to stick it to these corporate stooges trying to nickel and dime us out of our own hobbies. Man, even if you think 10 bucks a month isn't a big deal for you, what you have to think about is the future. If they think they can get away with this, it's going to get worse. It's already gotten worse. It's gotten so bad in such a short amount of time. It makes those previous decline of Xbox videos I made look like [__] solitire. I don't even know what that means. This is about more than just Game Pass. It's the culmination of a
cascade of horrific decisions that have created a pile of straw so massive it just broke the camel's back. And we're going to dive into all of this other [__] besides just Game Pass. But I'm just one guy. Maybe I'm overreacting. Let's see what others have had to say about this. $29.99. That's not a subscription. That's rent for my console. That's exactly what it is. Because they have disincentivized purchasing games in order to bolster the Game Pass numbers. But now customers are wisening up and saying to themselves, "Wait, why am I spending my money here?" They've already raised the price of Game Pass like three times in the last year and a half. Okay, I personally cannot see any point investing in Xbox as a
gaming platform. And clearly, I'm not the only one who's abandoning [__] It's sinking. Game Pass, 30 bucks every month, own nothing. GameStop, buy once, own forever. Math isn't that hard. 73,000 likes, dog. You know things are bad when even GameStop can clown on you and rally over 70,000 people to agree with them. Also, think about this. GameStop is a retailer that sells Xbox products, and they're roasting them. At this point, it genuinely feels like Xbox is self-sabotaging. Like they have multiple crew mates pretending to be impostors just to throw the match. Mighty Keef, the king of blowing trees, says, "Microsoft lost their damn minds. I'm out." 30K likes. It ain't just me,
fellas. Oh, look at this post from 2020. Xbox is on the nice list. Never mind. 242,000. PR disaster. I've been a Game Pass subscriber since launch and an Xbox supporter since launch. 30 bucks is too damn much for Game Pass and it might be my tipping point to cancel my subscription. Look at this guy's library. Okay, they're pissing off this guy. I Xbox just killed itself. They pissed off like this guy. He's even got Japanese Xbox games. Happy to see people coming together. Cancel Xbox game packs. Okay, now it's officially jover, man. You got the Xbox fanboy accounts on Twitter saying, "Nah, I'm done." These are the guys who would go to bed, they would die for Phil Spencer. No longer. The curse has been lifted. Happy
for you, by the way, Xbox, but also very sad for you because yeah, this sucks. The website to cancel Game Pass subscriptions is overloaded. We'll talk about that later. Bye-bye. [__] you. 92,000 dog. They even lost Xan man. Okay, this is especially devastating. Is Xany is one of those guys. He plays like everything on Xbox. Anytime he and I try to collab, like I'm always the one who's playing on PC and he's always on Xbox. If they're losing him, it's over. And now the final cherry on top. I present to you the gift that keeps on giving. For those of you who do not know who Stallion 83 is, he is currently a holder of the world's biggest gamer score on Xbox. 1.1 million
followers on Xbox. Dude who plays Xbox more than anybody else on the planet is calling you out. I could end the video right here. Honestly, like I've already made my point in my case, but we're we're just getting started here, folks. Google's search interest in Game Pass cancellation has skyrocketed. Checking Google Trends, that search term cancelled Xbox Game Pass has shot up to a 100 search rating. Now, the way Google Trends rates user interest in specific search terms is on a 0 to 100 scale. In other words, interest in cancelling Xbox Game Pass subscriptions has reached the maximum threshold that the world's most popular search engine is able to track.
Actor Chief, you mind telling me what you're doing with that gun? Sir, finishing this life. I can only imagine what the call between Phil Spencer and Satia Nadella was like. Yeah. Listen, uh, we [__] up. Yeah, I think this price increase. I think it was a pretty bad call. Like I said, there is so much traffic to the Xbox website from people trying to cancel their subscription that the site was overloaded and breaking. As one Reddit user put it, "First time I've ever seen a company DDoS themselves from people trying to leave a service." It like I'm speechless. It's It's beyond baffling to witness. And you know who's looking pretty [__] smart right now.
Lord Gabin does nothing wins. Never interrupt your opponent when they're making a mistake. While Microsoft is busy nickel and dimming the [__] out of their customers. Meanwhile, at Valve, hello. There was a price change for a product you previously purchased. Your transaction has automatically been reprocessed at the current lower price instead and the difference in price has been added to your Steam wallet. They're they're giving people money. Steam is g just 168,000 likes. For anyone that ever tells you brand loyalty doesn't matter. This is why people are loyal to Valve and Steam. This is why Gabe has so many memes. right now. I'm going to have Game Pass until 2077. Correction, 2030. What do
you do with all of these, man? Like, look at the type of people they [__] over, man. It's crazy. Wherever you look, it looks bad. Nah, Xbox as a brand is like having an ass that only shits out diarrhea. You are not allowed to poop out a solid log. Every second you spend on the toilet must be filled with a burning sensation in your anus. Diarrhea forever. Game Pass's last two price increases totaled up to about $6, up from 15. But now it's $10 more. So in a span of about 15 months, Game Pass has effectively doubled in price. Just 15 months. We all know the strategy on how to properly boil a frog alive. But apparently Phil Spencer didn't get the [__] recipe cuz he cranked the temperature up way too high, too fast, and now all the
tasty frogs are gone. Good job. Oh, what's that? What? You don't live in the US? You live in Brazil? Big mistake being born there, [__] Game Pass has seen a 100% price increase down south. You [__] idiot. How dare your parents give birth to you in a country that's not I'm Xbox. I eat my own poop. Look at that. Look at that, man. Wow. Unbelievable. You ready for another one? Of course, for PC fans, you thought you were safe. Thought you could freload forever? Nah, Phil hit you with the 40% increase. Maybe next time you'll pay your protection money. Nice part about
this price increase for PC Game Pass, they didn't even announce it. They just snuck it in there. Hoping you wouldn't notice. Left out that little detail, did he? Look. Yeah, look at this. Community noted as [__] PC Game Pass was not mentioned despite them saying every tier is getting upgraded. It will see a 40% increase with nothing new being added. [__] you. That means that you're a I can't I can't form coherent thoughts right now because of how angry I am. They suck. They suck so bad. They suck worse than the Jets. If the Jets and the Browns had sex and created a new
football franchise, that'd be Xbox. Why even do this? Why disappoint and piss off your fan base? Here's something else they left out. Oh, dude. They're not done screwing you over, bending you over, and ramming your ass full of [__] After raising Game Pass prices, Xbox also seems to have removed most subscriber DLC discounts. No, no, no discounts. Sorry. We're only worth like 4 trillion. Okay, just 4 trillion. We can't give you any money. Xbox reached out to the gamer to clarify the changes to DLC discounts for Game Pass subscribers. They will now receive up to 10% off in rewards points when buying select games and add-ons. So they're so they're just obfuscating.
They're they're making redeeming these rewards different and more difficult to access. Why the confusion? Why? I'm I'm I'm going to break something. I'm going to Oh, I can't. Not you. Not you, babe. I still love you. Look on the mask of my boy. Also, only on select games. Yes, we all know what that means. You're going to have complete control of this and make it even more difficult to redeem these discounts and rewards. Xbox has removed the 10% discount that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members could get on add-on content for Call of Duty, including removing the discount on Call of Duty points. This deal is getting worse all
the time. Please tell me that's it. I mean, it can't get any worse. It's Oh my god. Microsoft is getting ready to launch free cloud to Xbox gaming with ads. Ads in my video gaming experience. Yes, please. Please advertise to me. I haven't done enough consuming. I have all this money. I have all this free money. I'm a millionaire. I have to I want to burn it. I want to burn my money. Please show me ads. And now you've lost your way. You've completely lost it, Microsoft. Where are you going? It's like seeing somebody wander off into the [__] forest. I just want you guys to know, real talk, the modern Xbox brand is dead to me, right? No matter how bad Phil
[__] up Xbox, he can never take away my experiences with this [__] masterpiece of architecture, edge, and genius engineering. He can't take away all the fun I had on Xbox Live on my 360. And although at one point in time, Phil did his best to recover from the Xbox One fiasco, what has he done for us recently? Every decision you've made has led us from bad to worse. But let's switch gears for a second and talk about Costco. As they just revealed, they're removing Xbox consoles from their shelves in the US and UK and on their online stores. Their reasoning just as if it couldn't get more embarrassing, Costco is still going to stock and sell Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. And for those of you who don't know, Costco
and Microsoft were both headquartered in neighboring towns. The Xbox was literally made in my backyard. And Costco was headquartered across the street. Redmond and Kirkland, Washington. That's where I grew up. Costco and Microsoft, the bread and butter of the Pacific Northwest. That was that Kirkland signature. This was the Redmond signature. Okay. The fact that these two towns, my hometowns, are no effectively no longer working together because one side sees it as not a good business decision. It speaks volumes about how Xbox has lost their identity while Costco has retained theirs. It's like, dog, your best homie doesn't even hang out with you anymore. Not even Costco is [__]
with Xbox. Now, I had a whole bit written up about Costco and its hot dog and how they haven't raised the price of it in over 40 years, but this is the type of backlash Costco would be getting if they had raised the price. That's what Microsoft did with Xbox. They slaughtered its last sacred cow, Game Pass. Now, just a little side story about Costco. On November 15th, 2009, the co-founder Jim Sagal gave an interview to the Seattle Times. He was asked how Costco managed to avoid mass layoffs during the terrible recession of 2008. His response was an echo of what Sattoru Aada of Nintendo would say in the future during a time the Wii U was flopping. essentially keep our valuable employees, take the hit for our
customers, and hope that in the long run, their loyalty will prove to be more valuable than any other short-term solution. In both instances, this strategy was the right call. But within this 2009 interview, Jim was asked about the world famous Costco hot dog. How long have they been $1.50 since we started in 1983? If that price ever goes up, what will it mean? And Jim simply replied, "It will mean that I'm dead." That's weird. Assuring a lifelong commitment to the price of a hot dog. Why is it a big deal for you? Because everybody talks about it. People look at that Game Pass and say 15 bucks. This is unbelievable. When you get customers who are that delighted with something, it's
worth your time and energy to make it work. We're known for that game pass. That's something you don't mess with. This, ladies and gentlemen, I feel is just a perfect representation. It's a tale of dual destinies is what it is. One side being proconsumer, the other pissing on their consumers. Costco's not the only retailer moving away from Xbox. EB Games in Canada has also stated they might be pulling out, too. Why does all of this matter? Well, if Microsoft is no longer competitive in selling hardware, consoles, then they've got to be competitive somewhere else, right? Well, it's not in their first party titles and exclusives. Banjo Kazouie, we sat on that [__] for 20 [__] years. Did
absolutely [__] all with it. They just shut a bunch of those down, so we can check off that. So, what's left? Only PC and Xbox Game Pass. And guess what? Annually, Game Pass is now seven times more expensive than Switch Online and twice the price of PlayStation Plus. Xbox didn't just give up. They forfeited in the only area they were still competitive. So, just to recap, Xbox cannot compete with Sony or Nintendo's firstp party exclusives. They can't seem to develop their own. They can't create an affordable handheld alternative to compete with the Steam Deck or Switch.
They're being undercut by both subscription platforms. They can't sell games. They can't sell consoles. And now they can't sell subscriptions. We can't sell nothing. Our time has passed, John. Oh god. Please, please let it end. That's got to be the end. Xbox hardware may not happen despite their announcements. More retail stores will pull Xbox from sale. Microsoft is becoming a third party publisher. All these rumors come from insider sneakers. That's great. That's Yeah, great time to invest in Xbox. They don't even know if they're going to make a [__] console. Oh boy. Okay, that's that's got to be it. That has to be it. Xbox consoles are now getting a full screen Game Pass
Ultimate ad just a day after a 50% price hike was announced. Kill me. A [__] message pops up say give us money. Godamn it. Xbox, you got a lot of explaining to do and I'm going to give you that opportunity. So, what do you have to say for yourself? March 2023, Microsoft tells a court, "Game pass prices will not increase as a result of the Microsoft Activision merger." So, that was a [__] lie. Now, there are reasons for all the horrible things happening with Xbox, but there's a big difference between the real reason and the Microsoft logic.
Yes, Xbox actually sent me an email about my PC Game Pass stating the price increase was due to market conditions. What verbal diarrhea just came out of your mouth? Are youing serious? You didn't add anything to the pass. You didn't change it. You just made a more expensive market conditions. My ass. All right. Finally, let's watch the official announcement video from Xbox. Please God, please let it be over. Please, please let this be the end. Hey everyone, Xbox Game Pass is getting an upgrade. We've listened to your feedback and now objection.
I don't remember asking you a goddamn thing. You've listened to our feedback. Oh, yes. Please, please make things more expensive. I want to pay you more money. Nobody asked for a mandatory $10 price increase just to get Ubisoft Classics and Fortnite Crew. What the [__] feedback have you been listening to? We've listened to your feedback and now No, no, no. I want you. So, when you say that you listen to our feedback, what exactly do you mean? Only thing you've been listening to is the crackpipe, man. Put that [__] down. Also, if you're wondering why this lady has a poorly photoshopped face of Sarah Bond, it's because Xbox leadership Matt Booty, Phil Spencer, and Sarah Bond,
guess what? Guess where those [__] are? Not announcing this, they shoved out some low-level random female employee and fed her to the dogs. Yeah. Can you go out there and take the blow for us? I'm I'm afraid I'm a weak, [__] fragile [__] ass [__] God, Xbox leadership [__] sucks so bad, man. Those people [__] suck. I'm actually getting mad. You actually like cuz this is You are just hiding. You're just hiding like a [__] coward. You don't even have enough balls to come out and announce this and even try to spin it positively. Well, it went pretty well for you last time when you're like, "Oh, we're growing so good. Gross.
Oh, what's what's that? 30 games just got cancelled. 10 studios shut down. We're doing so great. I'm going to have an aneurysm." But anyways, that's that's why she's going to have a poorly photoshopped Sarah Bond because I don't know who this lady is and she does not deserve any hate for doing her job. But I will say without a doubt, the hardest job in the world is being Xbox's PR person. Imagine getting a miniature suicide note from your boss every week. And your task is to make it fun. Truer words have never been said. You have even more freedom to choose how you play the games you want. Objection.
We have more freedom. Oh, that's nice. More freedom. Yeah, there's just one small teeny tiny problem with that. You're not giving us the freedom to choose. This isn't a new tier. You didn't create a new, more expensive tier. You are forcing this raise onto the consumer. The only choice we have now is to take the hit or cancel. This is what Microsoft does to people. It sucks their soul out. Come on. There h there has to be something at least one positive thing about all of this. There has to at least one. Another upgrade is that Essential now includes in-game benefits for some of the biggest games like League of Legends, Call of Duty War Zone, and Overwatch 2.
I'm [__] I'm [__] I'm out. I'm done. That's it. The video's over. I can't handle this [__] no more. I already said I was out, dog. You don't have to push me out the door. I'm leaving already. Wow, that's so cool. A bunch of unspecified benefits for three free-to-play games. Thank you. But dear Microsoft, oh, you are so gracious. Truly the best steel in gaming. Is this it? Is this all you can conjure, Sauruman? Next up, Premium, formerly known as Standard. While Standard was built with console players in mind, Premium was built League of Legends is not playable on console. Oh, Dutch. He's a rat. That's that's the end of it. Sure.
That like no joke like my script has run out. That is all the Xbox bad news. Microsoft director of gaming and communications Dustin Blackwell said, "We understand price increases are never fun for anybody. Eat [__] and die." The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment. You don't want to that to do that. You think you do, but you don't. Do you guys not have phones? Do you guys want have phones? Yeah. Oh boy. It gets so good. Fortunately, we have a product for people who can't achieve online connectivity. It's called Xbox 360.
Oh. Oh, what a bunch of jokers. Jokesters. Oh, Dustin Blackfell, you [__] [__] Why'd you private your Twitter account? What kind of director of communications needs to private their Twitter account? Oh my good golly gosh, I am I don't think I've ever been this angry on a YouTube video. Don't think I've ever been this angry before. So, what's the truth? Well, I think I found a nugget of it. Xbox lost over 300 million in Call of Duty sales in 2024 by adding Black Ops 6 to Xbox Game Pass. According to Bloomberg, 82% of copies were sold on PS5. Who would have thought putting all of your eggs in one basket and abandoning the idea of trying to sell video game copies? Who could have predicted that would be a risky play
bound to backfire, not last forever? A lot of people predicted that. For years, it has been speculated that Game Pass was simply too good to be true. That they were going to ramp up the price once they had got the player numbers they wanted. And that's exactly what they've done. There's no way things could continue unless they raised the price. If only they could offset this by selling consoles and video game copies. Kind of like how Costco sells that hot dog for $1.50, but they offset the cost of that by everything else they sell. Imagine if Costco was like, "Yep, we're we're just a hot dog company now." How long would they last? There was at least
one prophet of truth who saw this avalanche before it cascaded down the mountain. Predicted this last year. Only way for Game Pass to be profitable is to eventually raise the price closer to 30 plus dollars. So, expect more price increases incrementally. It hurts being this right. Only thing he was wrong about is incrementally. So, what happened to Xbox and Game Pass? It's quite simple really. I made a deal with the devil, Jimmy. Like Tyus Finley, Game Pass was living on borrowed time. The core appeal of it to hit that perfect subscription price point where it's it was just cheap enough that you didn't have to think too
much about it. It wasn't a big cost on your monthly bills. Hearing this news literally reminded me that I needed to cancel my subscription since I mostly just buy the games I play because some call me crazy, but I like owning things. Sarah Bond says, "Sales of Xbox Game Pass for previous fiscal year reached a record high $5 billion. It's a business that's generating profits. If it's profitable, why are we raising the price again?" Well, it's funny cuz George, they're on to us. Game Pass was Xbox's last sacred cow, and they just slaughtered it. We need sacred cows. We need that immovable pillar, that beacon of hope and light that is always there, that you can always rely on. used to be
Halo, but they slaughtered that cow and then it was Game Pass, but now we had Xbox has nothing. It has nothing to offer me. As someone who has literally been a fan since the first day it came out, since the night it came out, I played that [__] in my neighborhood cuz a bunch of people worked at Microsoft and everybody got a free console. I got to play that [__] day one. Man, it has nothing for me. Every company needs one sacred cow, one unbismerged product, service, or expectation that customers can always rely on. Imagine if Steam sales uh just one day decided, "Nah, the maximum discount is just 15%." That's it. I just bought Dead Space 2 and 3 for like eight bucks. Dude, imagine if
Nintendo ever said, "Yeah, we're we're done making Mario platformers. Sorry." Imagine if Costco raised the price of the hot dog. Looking back, we were all fools to think Activision Blizzard would do better under Xbox. You want something that's going to age poorly, go back and watch this video. Go back and watch it here. I'll I'll be the first one. There you go. So, in conclusion, Xbox no longer has a soul. It's It's been sucked clean. It is truly baffling how fast and methodical Microsoft has been in destroying the reputation of this once beloved icon entertainment. But every sacred cow was sacrificed to the shareholders. Nothing about Xbox is sacred. All has been tainted. I guess the silver lining is this now gives me a
a reason to invest more in like my OG Xbox game collection cuz I ain't going to be buying [__] on the Series X probably ever again. For what it's worth, the OG Xbox and the 360, those can never be tarnished retroactively in my eyes. And when it comes to Xbox, like that's that's what I'll mostly remember, those times. You want to know the worst part of it? The horrible truth? I don't even play games on my Series X. Ironically, my Series X has turned into the very thing Don Matrick envisioned the Xbox One to be. Not a gaming console, a glorified entertainment subscription service. But what do you think? Cancel your Xbox Game Pass subscription, man. I just I have to
cope. This is how I cope. Let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. Like the video if you enjoyed it. If you want to support the channel, you can do so on Patreon. Shout out to this month's acting experts. A2A Phoenix, Azure, Anubis 17, Aelia Caprivy, Chrysa W, Dr. Miller, Jazan Heightman, Jazelle's Player One, Levion Marks, Lime Soda, Lucas Haynes, Multitude, Saber, the ODST, Scrotto, T Baggins, Shadow, Sylvia, and the Supertorm 49. Thank you all so much for your continued support. And enjoy the 10% discount. I will now be giving you 25 bucks is too much for a tier, honestly. I'm sorry I was char I was offering that, but yeah, feel free to support me on Patreon if you like what I do here. That's all I got for
today. This is the ActMan signing out. Peace.
