In the next few months you are more then likely going to see Game Pass PC finally move to release status from its current beta as the bigger games start to be released (Flight Sim, Halo, Forza, etc.) And there will be an increase of its $4.99/month price to $9.99/month to be on parity on with Game Pass Xbox. You can see moves already happening as MS is positioning XCloud (or whatever they rename the streaming service) with its release (September) and being integrated into to Ultimate to stream the Game Pass catalog.

So this removes at least remove that difference.

Plus Stadia does not have pay for online. Plus, with Lockhart more then likely being a digital only machine that will lead to more Game Pass subscriptions. And this may make the rumored Lockhart an even more desirable console for the price conscious buyer. It really drives an obvious big difference between the Xbox ecosystem and its main console competitor. And no better time to do this move then when a new gen starts. And with game streaming Microsoft's being a primary focus for the future growth makes little sense keep pay to play online around. So, I can't see Sony going without PS+ anytime soon. Sony definitely relies heavily on PS+ for profits (38% of of PS4 owners or around 42million) vs (43% of Xbox One owners or around 22 million) more so then Microsoft in any imaginable way. And it is a competitive move to make MS standout against Sony.

It is obvious move with what is going to be happening in the ensuing months as the next-gen starts. I do believe that pay for online is being removed at some point.

Xbox game pass ultimate 12 month