Xbox head Spencer announced that XGPU will continue to be provided for free to employees

According to The Verge, Microsoft originally planned to cancel the free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription benefit for most of its 238,000 employees starting from January next year, but after employee complaints, Microsoft will overturn this previous decision.

According to reports, Xbox head Phil Spencer is personally investigating the matter. Eventually, Spencer announced that he would reverse the original decision and Microsoft employees could retain Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefits .

After digging into this with the team, I just want to confirm that there will be no changes to Game Pass availability in 2024. If you can take advantage of Game Pass benefits now, you’ll continue to do so. Thank you for taking the time to understand the situation and we apologize for the questions and confusion you have caused. Thank you for your support of Xbox.

Microsoft employees have had free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate since the subscription option was launched in 2019. It’s unclear why Microsoft initially decided to cancel the benefit, with the report saying it “seemed more like a benefits/HR decision” as Spencer “wasn’t aware of the plan” and then moved quickly to reverse it. 

Naijatechnews previously reported that after Microsoft initially announced its plan, some Microsoft employees had expressed their opposition to the cancellation of benefits on the company’s internal messaging platform. The employees’ posts even prompted a response from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, saying he was unaware of the changes and was looking into the situation .

The news comes months after Microsoft’s first price increase for Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft is increasing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $14.99 to $16.99 per month, while the price of the Xbox Series X console has also increased in most markets outside the United States. Microsoft also launched Xbox Game Pass Core subscriptions in September to replace Xbox Live Gold.