Please can we stop adding emotions to corporations?

With the Microsoft increase of Game Pass, I have seen much gnashing of teeth and talk about how ridiculous the increase is and why would they do this as well as conversations on how this is no longer the best deal in the gaming. People were so angry they reportedly crashed Xbox’s cancellation of Game Pass page. I really don’t want to be in a position to be defending a multi-BILLION-dollar corporation but in general this is ridiculous. Yes, the price increase is steep and yes it made me reassess whether it is worth it for me, but this is a natural reaction I feel to any increase of price. Is this product that I am using still worth my money? Do I still receive value from said product even if it is less value than it was before? I think everyone should be asking this question of Game Pass or PS Plus or Netflix or any other service we subscribe to. I looked at how many games I have played on Game Pass over the last year and see if it was worth more to subscribe for a year (£23 X 12 = 276) than if I had bought the games directly (that is 4 £70 games or 7 £40 games). This is basic economic common sense and what everyone should be doing with every part of their economic life, from buying a house to basic subscriptions. The other point here is this is different for every person. Everybody has a value that is worth it to them. I play a lot of games; my cousin does not. Therefore, it may be worth it to me but definitely isn’t worth it for him. A newer streamer, for instance, may get greater value out of Game Pass than someone who is big and gets most of their games for free. There is a value proposition and that has to be individual.

But aside from common sense and economic responsibility, I was amazed at how many people had an emotional reaction this. This is not the first time I have seen this; the Nintendo Switch 2 launch was another example. People were outraged at the £395.99 for the Switch 2 or £429.99 for the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World. They were incensed at the £80 price tag for the games. They were amazed that Nintendo was charging for upgrades of games you already owned. I, however, was not surprised in the least. Nintendo is Nintendo. They long stopped being the company of ‘fun’ if they ever were. I will state I am not a Nintendo fan. I don’t hate Nintendo, but I find their practices a bit, not shady as such, but rather unnecessary. They have always seemed to do things that I would raise my eyebrow at.

 I was on YouTube, and this creator came up in my feed who had blown up because a larger creator had done a reaction to her video. The video was a heartfelt description of why she was turning her back on Nintendo. She described how the Nintendo she had known and grown up with was not the Nintendo she now saw. She described how their lawsuit against Palworld and other people put a sour taste in her mouth. How the charging a fortune for the new console and games was a step too far. How the games, such as Pokemon, were really little more than rehashes of previous games. How the games they made now did not seem to be filled with the joy, fun and wonder that she had experienced when she first played Zelda and other Nintendo games. I couldn’t disagree with any of what she said. It was all true and indicative of the way I feel about BioWare, EA, Ubisoft and so on. I would add that this is a common response as we get older as well. I look back with rose tinted glasses at all the amazing games I played when I was younger, and the world was new.

But that kind of is my point. It is how I feel. Not based on fact but emotion. Nintendo do what they can because they can, no other reason. They know enough people will buy the Nintendo Switch 2 at that price. They know enough people will pay £80 for games. They know that the people who refused to buy these things at that price will probably buy it especially when the next Zelda or Mario game comes out. Yes, they are tugging at your heartstring. Yes, they are relying on your emotional response to previous Nintendo products will mean you will buy their product. Yes, they are riding your good will as far as they can. Because their first and only responsibility is to the corporation and making money.

This is not rocket science. We all know it. We all are happy to point it out when it is not about our emotions as I can do with Nintendo. But whenever one of these corporations does something and we feel emotionally effected by it, we claim we cannot understand how they can do this to their fans or their customers. How it doesn’t make sense.

Back to the Game Pass increase. Xbox were always going to increase the price. People have been saying from day one they will. Game Pass Core and Standard changed their names but remained the same price, PC Game Pass went up 35% and Ultimate went up by 50%.  They had to. The service is night and day compared to what it was in 2017 when it first came out. It was £7.99 ($9.99) at launch. There were 110 games, no PC Game Pass, no tiers, no day one releases and so on. 2019 Ultimate was released at £10.99 ($14.99) included PC and 191 games. A year later they added EA Play for no additional charge. In 2021 they added Cloud Gaming. Again no increase. 2023 increased the price to £12.99 ($16.99) 429 games (included a rename/rebrand). 2024 increase to £14.99 ($19.99) a rename/rebrand again making a tier that didn’t have day one games. And then in 2025 increase of 50% to the £22.99 ($29.99) adding Fortnite Crew, Ubisoft Classics, upgraded Cloud Streaming to 1440p and a game library of 838 games. They have added a lot to the service since 2019 when the Ultimate tier was added but the price has effectively increased by 100% in the same time. Netflix increased their prices in the same period from £7.99 to £12.99 a 63% increase. They added a few Originals and added 4K to the premium tier but also started cracking down on password sharing. These are not apples to apples services, but the increase is everywhere.

Like I said I don’t want to defend a massive corporation, but I also don’t want to ignore the ridiculous emotional response to this increase and other actions of corporations. They are offering you a service. Either in the case of Xbox a subscription service, or in other cases, a game or movie or TV series.

We effectively have a choice to make. Pay the service fee or don’t. Buy the game or their next game, or don’t. Our emotional energy should be spent on playing the games we enjoy. Many people already do this I think when it comes to long term games they play. Games like Diablo or League of Legends or Fortnite or COD or Roblox. They find the thing that gives then joy and stick with it Pulling all their emotional fun and joy from their game.