Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Xbox Game Pass saved me over $1000 last year. How? Let’s do the math.
Game Pass Ultimate costs $19.99 a month, or about $240 a year. Now there are always sales and discounts and loopholes so I don’t know any suckers who pay full price, but for the sake of argument let’s just say we’re paying as much as humanly possible.
So I added up the prices of all the Game Pass games I played this year, based on what the digital Xbox store price was when I unlocked my first achievement in the game.
In 2024, I played a total of 26 games, which came to a total price of $1010.14. So doing the math, Game Pass saved me $770.14.
But I also have two kids who play under my account, and they added X more games and $230.91 more in retail value. So the grand total of money I saved under Game Pass in 2024 was $1001.05.
Now clearly I wouldn’t have bought all of these games. Some I only tried for a play session or two, usually cloud gaming in the car while waiting to pick up a kid at dance lessons or theater rehearsal. But for every one I tried and didn’t stick with, there were tons of others that hooked me and I absolutely loved. To me, that discovery engine and lowering the barrier of entry to new games is the best part of Game Pass.
And in addition to all of this, we still went the traditional route of buying and playing through several other games and DLC that weren’t on Game Pass or available on Xbox.
Xbox Game Pass saved me over $1000 last year. How? Let’s do the math.
Game Pass Ultimate costs $19.99 a month, or about $240 a year. Now there are always sales and discounts and loopholes so I don’t know any suckers who pay full price, but for the sake of argument let’s just say we’re paying as much as humanly possible.
So I added up the prices of all the Game Pass games I played this year, based on what the digital Xbox store price was when I unlocked my first achievement in the game.
In 2024, I played a total of 26 games, which came to a total price of $1010.14. So doing the math, Game Pass saved me $770.14.
But I also have two kids who play under my account, and they added X more games and $230.91 more in retail value. So the grand total of money I saved under Game Pass in 2024 was $1001.05.
Now clearly I wouldn’t have bought all of these games. Some I only tried for a play session or two, usually cloud gaming in the car while waiting to pick up a kid at dance lessons or theater rehearsal. But for every one I tried and didn’t stick with, there were tons of others that hooked me and I absolutely loved. To me, that discovery engine and lowering the barrier of entry to new games is the best part of Game Pass.
And in addition to all of this, we still went the traditional route of buying and playing through several other games and DLC that weren’t on Game Pass or available on Xbox.
