We thought that Microsoft was moving to end the Xbox Live Gold subscription. Instead, the software giant is raising the price of the service.

“Periodically, we assess the value and pricing of our services to reflect changes in regional marketplaces and to continue to invest in the Xbox community,” a post credited to the Xbox Live Gold Team explains. “We’ll be making price adjustments for Xbox Live Gold in select markets.”

The United States is one of those select markets, though it’s worth pointing out that Microsoft isn’t raising prices on existing 6- and 12-month subscriptions, at least for now: When you renew the next time, you will pay the same price as before.

But the new pricing going forward is more expensive. A 1-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold now costs $10.99, up from $9.99. A 3-month subscription now costs $29.99, up from $24.99. A 6-month subscription now costs $59.99, up from $39.99. And while Microsoft doesn’t address this explicitly, I don’t believe they offer new 12-month subscriptions anymore.

Finally, those interested in upgrading from an Xbox Live Gold subscription to an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription will get a lot of value out of doing so, since each month of the former will be converted into a month of access to the latter. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate normally costs $14.99 per month.

Tagged with Xbox Live Gold