This seemingly provides Xbox users with what might be their last chance to stack up months of their membership, and avoid the new Game Pass price hikes... at least for now.
$54.99, down from $59.99, might not seem like much of a deal, but once you dig a little closer, you'll realise how significant such a price drop really is.
A few dollars off might not sound like much, but when you’re stacking codes like this, it adds up quickly, especially when compared to the new prices Microsoft is now enforcing. Under the new rate, three months of Game Pass Ultimate would cost $89.97. So just for starters, that's a $35 saving almost immediately.
To take things one step further, let's also discuss stacking. Stacking is where you buy up several codes and then repeatedly add them to your account to "stack" up your membership times. The max you can do this for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is 36 months.
So at the new rate ($29.99/mo), you'd be paying $1,079.64. Yikes! But, with the discount at Amazon, this total ends up at a more respectable, $659.88 for the full three years. In total, you can save up to $419.76, which is over an extra year of Game Pass covered.
Even just covering yourself for the next year, with four $54.99 codes (totalling $219.96), could be a great move. This is remarkably better compared to $359.88 on the new plan ($29.99/mo for 12-months).
Xbox Game Pass Wave 1 October 2025 Lineup
Microsoft has also recently made its first Xbox Game Pass lineup announcement since the controversial Ultimate price hike, revealing the first wave of games subscribers can expect over October 2025.
This icnludes Double Fine’s Keeper, and the Xbox Game Studios’ published Ninja Gaiden 4.
October 8:Supermarket Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
October 15:Eternal Strands (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Now with Game Pass Premium
October 15:He Is Coming (Game Preview) (PC) Now with Game Pass Premium
October 15:Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Now with Game Pass Premium
October 16:Pax Dei (PC) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
October 17:Keeper (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
October 21:Evil West (Cloud, Console, and PC) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
October 21:Ninja Gaiden 4 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Here’s Where Game Pass Stands After October’s Pricing Update
The new pricing represents a 50% increase in the US, with Game Pass Ultimate jumping from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. That’s an extra $120 a year for what used to be gaming’s best deal.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99/month (up from $19.99)
Xbox Game Pass Premium: $14.99/month (replaces Standard)
Xbox Game Pass Essential: $9.99/month (replaces Core)
PC Game Pass: $16.49/month (up from $11.99)
As I've mentioned, if you want to dodge the higher prices, your best option is to stockpile up to 36 months of Ultimate before the new rates take full effect at retailers like Amazon. Or you could simply cancel your subscription entirely if you’ve had enough.
Meanwhile, GameStop says it won’t raise its Game Pass prices for now, and Best Buy, Target, and Walmart have also yet to match Microsoft’s latest hike. So if you’ve been planning to renew, now’s probably the moment to do it before everyone else catches up.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's price recently shot up a tremendous 50% in the US, up from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. That's an extra $120 per year, and a lot of extra cash you need to find in order to keep what used to be the best deal in gaming around. Yeesh!
If you want to beat the price hike, your best option is to stack your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership to its limit (36 months) while the change isn't yet enforced. Or... cancel your subscription altogether. I'm not your boss.
But you can also purchase three-month codes at an even better rate of $54.99 each, and a significant reduction versus the new $89.99 pricing.
The max you can fill out your account with is 12, which in the US currently costs $659.88 in total ($219.96 per year). Now that's a lot, and I'm never going to recommend you suddenly shell out almost $700 on a subscription service, certainly not in this economy. But it's still worth being honest about the numbers and how much it does cost to avoid a price hike by paying upfront while you can.
Comparatively, at the new $29.99/mo rate, three years of Game Pass Ultimate will now cost $1,079.64.
By buying in now (i.e. paying up to $659.88 to stack codes), you can save up to $419.76 (effectively over an extra year covered), yet it's unlikely any of us will want to pay so much for a service that's just wacked its prices up (again, and then again).
If anything, this is just good to know if you want to cover yourself for even just the next 12 months, paying $219.96 instead of $359.88.
Xbox Game Pass Tier and Price Changes, October 2025:
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99 a month, up from $19.99 a month
Xbox Game Pass Premium: $14.99 a month, the same as the old Standard subscription
Xbox Game Pass Essential: $9.99 a month, the same as the old Core subscription
PC Game Pass: $16.49 a month, up from $11.99
The updated pricing has already gone into effect for new subscribers, and will proceed on November 4 for current subscribers. As part of the announcement, Microsoft added more than 45 new games to Game Pass. Check out the full list here.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
My pile of games already stretches past the moon, but some discounts just hit that "add to cart" button for you. This week’s round of wallet tests includes some cinematic adventures, open-world chaos, and nostalgia bombs that deserve a permanent slot on your shelf or SSD. Get amongst them before they're gone.
In retro news, I've hired some Nathan Drake spooking clowns for the 16th Bday of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. To say this sequel blew my mind at launch is quite the understatement. U2 began and persisted with gobsmacking action setpieces, brilliantly balanced shootin' / punchin' / puzzlin' gameplay, and an Amy Hennig script that snap, crackled, and popped with a decent pool of Marco Polo jokes. To this day, it's not just the alpha Uncharted in ND's kennel of purebred pedigrees, but also one of the finest video games ever made, period. Re-experience or tick it off your bucket list with this.
On Switch, Super Mario RPG remains one of my all-time favourite reinventions. What started as a 1996 curiosity turned into a cult hit with turn-based combat that feels half JRPG, half slapstick theatre. And if you’re yet to play LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, it’s basically a massive playable meme. Every scene is packed with physical gags and sly nods to nine films’ worth of lore.
Over on Xbox Series X, Dragon Age: Veilguard Del. isn't a best-in-franchise but worth a reduced price bet. Meanwhile, The Crew Motorfest is a surprise gem, blending Forza-style open driving with a cheeky island holiday vibe that I didn’t expect to enjoy this much.
On PS5, Like a Dragon: Ishin! brings sword-swinging chaos to feudal Japan, and it’s fascinating to see the Yakuza DNA dressed up in samurai robes. And Far Cry 6 may be divisive, but I’ll admit its open-world anarchy, coupled with Giancarlo Esposito’s villainy, still feels worth the asking price.
On PC, Detroit: Become Human is Quantic Dream’s best work by a long shot, thanks to clever branching paths that react beautifully to failure. And Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus remains one of the most ridiculous, fist-pumping shooter campaigns ever made. If you want to dual-wield shotguns while ranting about fascism, this is your catharsis.
Adam Mathew is a passionate connoisseur, a lifelong game critic, and an Aussie deals wrangler who genuinely wants to hook you up with stuff that's worth playing (but also cheap). He plays practically everything, sometimes on YouTube.
Audible's holiday promotion for 2025 is now live. Through December 16, new and returning Audible subscribers can sign up for three months of Audible Premium Plus for just $0.99 per month. You will need to be logged into your Amazon Prime membershp to see this promotion. After the three months is up, your subscription will convert to the standard $14.95/mo, so make sure to cancel beforehand if you don't want to continue with the service. You also get a free audiobook of your choice for each of those three months that you get to keep indefinitely even after your subscription expires.
3 Free Months of Audible Premium Plus
Audible is a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of thousands of the best audiobooks without ever having to purchase them. There are two paid membership plans: the lower tier Audible Plus ($7.95/mo) and the higher tier Audible Premium Plus ($14.95/mo). The biggest difference between the two is the size of the audiobook library. Whereas Audible Plus only lets you listen to a selection of about 10,000 audiobooks, the Audible Premium Plus plan gives you access to a whopping 500,000 audiobooks.
Premium Plus includes other perks as well. Every month Premium Plus members get to pick one audiobook to keep in their library indefinitely, even after the membership expires. Also, Premium Plus members can get 30% off any additional audiobooks they wish to purchase in addition to exclusive limited-time discounts.
If you were already planning to purchase a couple of audiobooks, then it makes more sense to pay less than $3 to get three audiobooks you get to keep indefinitely and enjoy all the benefits of Audible Premium Plus for three months. This deal only pops up a few times per year, so don't waste your "first-time subscriber" eligibility status on a short 30-day trial.
Catch up the the latest novel releases, audiobook style
Several best-selling new and recent releases are available in an audiobook format and part of Audible's Premium Plus subscription plan. Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest Hunger Games novel, is narrated by Jefferson White, who you may already know from Yellowstone where he played Jimmy Hudstrom. The audiobook has a listening time of about 12 hours and 48 minutes. Stephen King released his Never Flinch crime novel in May 27 and it's also available as a nearly 15-hour long audiobook narrated by veteran Jessie Mueller. If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson, check out Wind and Truth, book five of the popular The Stormlight Archive series. It was released in December of 2024 and runs an epic 63 hours long.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
One of the more popular October Prime Day deals is still available. Amazon is offering a four-pack of Apple AirTags keyfinders for just $64.99 shipped. At just $12.99 per AirTag, this is the lowest price of the year. If you're willing to get your holiday shopping done in advance, the Apple Airtags would make a great gift idea for anyone who owns an iPhone and tends to lose small wearables like wallets, keys, or remotes.
4-Pack Apple AirTags for $65
The Apple Airtag is a small coin-shaped device that you can put in your wallet or attach to your phones, keys, remote, or anything small enough to be easily misplaced. It works as a little Wi-Fi keyfinder that helps locate your lost objects by pinging its general location to your iPhone using Bluetooth 5.0. However, if your iPhone model has a U1 chip with Ultra Wideband, then you can take advantage of the "Precision Finding" mode. This gives you numerical distance and direction guidance when your lost item is close by. It points you right to it.
The CR2032 coin battery is user-replaceable, so your AirTag won't end up in a landfill when the battery depletes, nor will you have to deal with battery degradation like you would with a non-replaceable lithium battery.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
The days of spending hundreds of dollars over MSRP for a new Nvidia Blackwell GPU are over. Amazon has currently dropped the price of the PNY Epic-X ARGB OC GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Graphics Card to $979.99 with free shipping. In comparison, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Founder's Edition card normally retails for $999 (in reality it's actually much higher). The Epic-X ARGB OC is PNY's highest end RTX 5080 model, featuring a beefy triple fan cooler, a modest overclock out of the box, and flashy RGB illumination.
PNY Epic-X ARGB OC RTX 5080 Graphics Card for $979.99
The RTX 5080 is one of the fastest cards on the market, bested only by the $2,000 RTX 5090 and the discontinued $1,600 RTX 4090. This is a phenomenal card for playing the latest, most demanding games in 4K resolution at high settings and ray tracing enabled. The RTX 5080 supports DLSS 4 with multi-frame generation, which means you can push even more frames out of games that support the technology with minimal visual compromise. Recent games that support it include Doom: The Dark Ages, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, and Battlefield 6.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Battlefield 6’s multiplayer action is all about layers. You have an infantry layer, where teams exchange gunfire on foot; there’s the land vehicle layer, where tanks and armored cars reshape the front lines with powerful weapons capable of decimating infantry and bringing entire buildings to the ground; and then there’s sky layer, where a small number of flyers hold dominion over the air, with the potential to flatten ground forces outright. What’s impressive is not only that each layer is so different, but also so well constructed, and somehow they all fit together seamlessly. A few of the maps have a bad habit of becoming sniper-infested hellscapes, and it takes a little too long to unlock the better equipment that makes your loadouts really interesting, but those are minor gripes with what is otherwise one of the best multiplayer shooters of the year.
Most of the fighting happens between general infantry, and great moment-to-moment gunplay is the anchor of the whole experience. Weapons look and sound awesome, especially if you have headphones or a good sound system to pick up the deep booms and subtle details like bullet casings falling to the ground. Guns are accurate, but account for bullet travel and drop just enough to reward skillful shooting – though the modest recoil and bullet spread in most weapons also means you don’t need to be a hardcore shooter veteran to be able to land shots.
There are four classes to choose from that are well balanced overall despite having very distinct identities. Running and gunning as the Assault Class is a lot of fun, but switching gears and focusing on keeping your allies alive as a Medic is rewarding in its own right. Using your defibrillator to keep your team’s collective stock of lives from draining while simultaneously getting one of your fighters back in the action can help turn a match of attrition, even if you choose to be less involved in the actual combat. It's great for ensuring that anyone can contribute by playing a role well.
That said, I have some mixed feelings about how the Loadouts are assembled. Any class can equip any gun, and while I appreciate the freedom, it’s hard not to want to just put my favorite assault rifle on every class and call it a day. Sure, there’s a bonus effect for using the weapons traditionally associated with each class, like how the sniping-focused Recon class has a faster rate of fire and better accuracy while using snipers, but the effects are modest enough that I quickly found myself ignoring them. That’s not to say that classes don’t matter – you still need to be an Engineer in order to repair tanks, for example – but the lines are a little too blurry for my taste.
Being a good tank commander can make or break a match.
The other issue is with how long it takes to unlock things between matches. Most equipment and weapon options require you to reach certain levels or complete multi-tiered challenges to access them. That’s all well and good, and a standard set of daily and weekly challenges help keep the level ups from being a painful slog, but the level requirements are too high. You can’t even start working on the class specific challenges, which are necessary for earning alternate sub-class-like training paths, until you hit level 20, which could take dozens of hours. Given that really powerful equipment options like the Deploy Beacon, which acts as remote spawn point for your squad, are locked behind that, it holds back the early experience an unfortunate amount before eventually hitting its stride.
The next layer up is when vehicles get involved – while relegated to the larger maps, all hell starts to break loose in the best way with their arrival. A tank rolling down the street creates equal parts control and chaos. They are a focal point of every fight, able to send the enemy scattering as its machine guns and cannon erupt. As buildings explode and debris rains down, they also become the most important target to clear. Whether that means calling in a tank of your own, switching to the Engineer class after getting taken out so you can fire rockets, or something else entirely is up to you, but the way vehicles flip strategic calculus is extremely effective for keeping matches interesting. I also appreciate that, while not necessarily hard to use, tanks do have a higher skill requirement than fighting on foot. Knowing when to use defensive countermeasures or when to push forward to seize territory rather than retreat and let friendly Engineers repair you means a good tank commander stands out, and they can make or break a match if handled correctly.
As a bit of an aviation nerd, I’m a sucker for the final layer: the skies. I love getting in a jet, winning dogfights, then strafing the other team, with some bombing runs mixed in for good measure. Airplanes and helicopters make it fun to be in the skies, terrifying to be underneath, and so satisfying to shoot someone down with a well-placed rocket while on foot. They have the highest skill requirement, asking you to learn a complex set of controls and have a more nuanced understanding of how aircraft operate in order to best utilize them. I’m ok with that in principle, but the lack of a good method to train or practice those skills also means it’s extremely difficult for newcomers to learn to fly. There’s a great firing range for trying out guns, and the lack of a similar option to practice flying means fewer players will be able to enjoy success in the skies.
The classic smattering of Battlefield modes returns, and they are just as fun as ever. Team Deathmatch is a good warmup, but the 64-player battles of Breakthrough and Conquest remain the standouts due to their stunningly massive scope – the former asks one team with limited lives to capture points and advance the frontline against limitless waves of defenders, while the latter has both teams fight for control of shared territory. They are as good as ever at funneling the action towards specific areas, leaving room for big battles in the streets and skies while up-close and personal skirmishes happen on the objectives.
The maps are generally strong, though some have been taken over by snipers.
Beyond that you have options like Rush, a Counterstrike-like mode focused on smaller groups that became another one of my favorites due to it’s instant action and short duration, making it a good alternative for quicker sessions where I don’t have time for a prolonged tug-of-war. The brand new Escalation mode has also impressed, having you fight for a large number of control points that decreases over time, forcing more and more intense battles as you near the end. I like that quite a bit, as the changing shape of the battlefield necessitates a fun shift in tactics throughout.
There are nine maps at launch that are generally strong, ranging from the crowded streets of Saints Quarter, which is perfect for close quarters action, to the enormous, vehicle-filled Operation Firestorm. Empire State is one of my favorites, with a great mix of open areas full of roads, buildings to duck into, and rooftops to snipe from. It’s a tactical advantage to learn the maps, and knowing that seizing the rooftop of a building opposite an objective point so you can wipe out an enemy squad from on high emphasizes the thoughtful nature of Battlefield 6’s combat.
Not every map is a winner right out of the gate, however. Liberation Peak has already become a well deserved meme in the community because of how one hill is always filled with snipers, which really takes away from the class balance that Battlefield thrives on. Mirak Valley is pretty similar, particularly in games of Breakthrough, where the attackers have too little cover in their push against a team of sharpshooters. And while I really like New Sobek City overall, with varied terrain and joyfully destructible structures that help it stand out, it can also become littered with anti-vehicle mines to the point of rendering tanks useless. That might be more of an issue with how the mines themselves are balanced, as they have a tendency to become far too numerous very quickly, but it takes away from what is otherwise a top tier place to fight.
It certainly helps that the maps all look great, especially once you factor in their excellent destructibility. Chunks of cement rain down as bullets collide with buildings. Cars and buses explode, and cover can be erased in an instant with a well placed shot from a grenade launcher. Bring a tank to bear and you can crumble entire buildings (which is terrifying to be on the wrong side of), changing the terrain in ways that are meaningful, and never quite the same from match to match.
But the most impressive part is how all of it – the combat, the levels, the destruction – comes together. There was one moment where I was in a pitched battle for control of a zone in the construction sites of New Sobek City. The enemy was entrenched until I rode my tank in, smashing through a wall and a few support columns in the process. Dust and debris covered everything, but I ignored it as I sprayed gunfire from my machine gun, and my teammates mopped up the rest. It was gorgeous, and something you simply won’t find at this scale in any other game.
The Chinese Room has revealed the final PC system requirements for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. These extended PC specs list the framerate, graphics settings, and resolution these PC requirements target. So, let’s take a look at them. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will be powered by Unreal Engine 5. From what I … Continue reading Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Gets Final PC Requirements→
If you're shopping for the absolute most powerful prebuilt PCs available right now, then you're undoubtedly looking for one equipped with the GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card. Prices have dropped precipitously in the past few months and currently you can even get one for under $4,000. Walmart has the Cooler Master TD5 Pro RTX 5090 gaming PC for $3,699.99 with free shipping. The next best price that I can find anywhere for an RTX 5090 equipped system is $4,100. Newegg is the marketplace reseller but, curiously, this same config sells for over $5,000 direct from its site.
Cooler Master TD5 Pro RTX 5090 Gaming PC for $3,699.99
TL;DR:
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU (Up to 5.7GHz, 24 cores)
360mm liquid-cooled CPU
32GB of DDR5 memory
2TB M.2 SSD storage
1 year warranty
The GeForce RTX 5090 Is the Most Powerful Graphics Card Ever
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has emerged as the most powerful consumer GPU on the market. Although with this generation Nvidia has prioritized software updates, AI features, and DLSS 4 technology to improve gameplay performance, the 5090 still boasts an impressive 25%-30% uplift over the RTX 4090 in hardware-based raster performance. If you want the absolute best performance for your gaming PC, there is literally no other option from any other brand. You can read our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 FE review by Jacqueline Thomas for our hands-on impression and benchmarks.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
USB Type-C has become the standard for charging and data cables alike, so it's good to have extra on hand. Here's a great back to school deal where you can get some quality cables at a throwaway price. Amazon is offering a four-pack of Lisen 6.6ft 240W USB Type-C cables for just $11.89 after you apply coupon code "3FDEL3W7". That averages out to $2.97 per cable. USB Type-C cables typically go for about $10 per cable or more at your local big box store. These can charge nearly any device with a USB-C port, including your Nintendo Switch 2, iPhone 16, or even the new M4 MacBook.
4-Pack of Lisen 6.6ft 240W USB Type-C Cables for $11.89
Keep your cable collection simple. These cables measure 6.6 feet in length, which is a great general purpose length: long enough to still be able to use your device while the cable is plugged in, but not so long as to be an unnecessary nuisance. These cables are also rated for up to 240W of power delivery, which means they can be used to charge even high powered electronics like your laptop. They're encased in a braided nylon sheath for extra durability and aeshetics. Lisen claims that they've been lab tested for up to 40,000+ bends and 175lb tensile pulls, "equivalent to a decade of daily extreme use". These cables have over 4,500 reviews on Amazon with an average 4.6 star rating.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
For a 40-year-old franchise, there’s a lot going on around Back to the Future these days. The movies have just gotten a new batch of limited-edition 4K steelbook releases (out today). And now LEGO has announced a new minifigure-scale set of the Time Machine from Back to the Future. It costs a reasonable $27.99, with a release date of January 1, 2026. Preorders are live now at Amazon and the LEGO Store.
LEGO Speed Champions Time Machine from Back to The Future
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a LEGO set based on the DeLorean car that Doc modified to travel through time. LEGO released one a few years ago (and Walmart has it on sale for $170). But it’s a much bigger, more elaborate set, with nearly 2,000 pieces; check out our We Build article on it. If you’re not willing to drop nearly $200 on ’80s nostalgia, this upcoming one hits the sweet spot at only $27.99.
It has a number of cool features, straight out of the Back to the Future movie trilogy. You can build it in a standard car form, with a lightning rod and the memorable "OUTATIME" California license plate from the first movie. Then you can re-build it in its flying form from the second movie, with the Mr. Fusion power source, an orange license plate, and sideways wheels. Both modes feature the flux capacitor and time calculator.
And LEGO could hardly release a Back to the Future set without including minifigures of the two main characters. You get an adorable little version of Marty McFly, complete with his red vest, and Doc Brown, with all his weird little gadgets adorning his white lab coat.
It’s a great looking set overall, and I'm surprised by how affordable it is. I actually like this simplified version of the Time Machine better than the previous release, which costs nearly eight times more. The smaller form factor also fits the minifigures, so you can place both of them in the cockpit, get the speed up to 88 mph, and send them… well, you know.
Connexion
