A new Xbox Game Pass tier may be in the works, and it could hint at the future of Xbox and Game Pass.
Tipster redphx on X posted about a new Game Pass tier codenamed 'Trion'. "Apparently this new Game Pass "TRION" (sic) program only includes games from Xbox Studios," they wrote. Redphx regularly posts about Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming by digging into the public-facing backend of the services.
The new Game Pass tier would only include first-party Xbox games and redphx revealed a few ranging from some recent titles to older ones.
- DOOM Eternal
- DOOM 64
- Dishonored 2
- Fable Anniversary
- Fallout 4
- Fallout 76
- Gears 5
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Halo Wars 2
- Hellblade
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- Psychonauts
- State Of Decay 2
- The Elder Scrolls Online
- Retro Classics
There are plenty of Xbox games in the vault that would fit nicely in this tier but the company has backed off its own titles recently even with the recent acquisitions. Many games are now cross-platform, so I'm curious what newer games would fit in this tier, if it's real.
Would anything form Activision-Blizzard go here? What about Zenimax titles?
A new Xbox direction?
If this new tier does come to be, it could be the first shakeup from new CEO Asha Sharma who has promised to get Xbox back to gaming.
During the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco earlier this month, Xbox made a big splash with its presentation of Project Helix, the next Xbox console. Behind the scenes, Sharma was making the rounds laying out her vision for the brand to relevant parties.
One component involved making Xbox Game Pass more affordable, per The Information, which wrote that the company wants to "make future consoles and products like Game Pass more enticing to a broader range of customers."
That could include offering lower-priced tiers and changing pricing models, and Shamra is also reportedly looking into bundles with Netflix.
Affordability
Affordability will be the buzzword when it comes to gaming soon. Sony just announced another price hike for its entire hardware lineup, pushing the high-end Pro model to $900. Nintendo is expected to increase Switch 2 prices any day now even as the company reduces production of the console due to poor sales.
And all this after Xbox raised prices on its consoles twice last year including a bump to Game Pass.
Yes, the United States' ongoing war with Iran and evolving tariffs, plus the RAM crisis, are causing global supply chain issues, but it's clear that gamers are, if not already, getting priced out.
Any company that can offer lower prices will likely get gamer dollars going forward.
