Price hikes are necessary in the changing economy; however, we can all agree that Microsoft’s price adjustment is a red flag to gamers. The ability to get Day One games for 15-20 dollars was incredibly generous, and it proved that game companies could be looking out for our wallets. The old model was dishing out $70 on a game that you couldn’t rent or get a demo of, and hope it doesn’t suck.

PC gamers and console owners can still opt for the PC Game Pass or Console Game Pass for $ 15-$ 16, and it may still be a good deal (though PC gamers can’t use the Xbox Cloud and the Console option).

The good news is that Game Pass is not the only option available. In fact, several companies have stepped up to compete against the giant. If you are not picky about Day One releases, you can be playing the latest offerings for less than $30 a month.

  1. GameFly ($15 a month)

Maybe you don’t need a constant buffet of 400 rotating games. Perhaps you’d like to try a new release without any commitment. GameFly lets you take home the physical software to play. Their mail delivery system may seem archaic, but gamers need to know that the game market is still a physical medium. Games should not be stored on some millionaire’s server, ready to pull the rug from underneath you at a moment’s notice. GameFly is the spiritual successor to Blockbuster, allowing fans to get their fix of Wolverine for PS5 on day one.

Notable Games: Anything that is released for current consoles.

2. Fanatical ($3-$17 per game)

Game bundles are like the Taco Bell Big Box of gaming. You find a game bundle that suits your tastes, and you purchase 3 or more for pennies on the dollar. With Fanatical, I have collected countless indie RPGs, roguelites, VR titles, shooters, and Metroidvanias. Every so often, you can score an AAA Capcom or From Software release for $7 a pop. The bundles are mostly indie titles and games of yesteryear, but you will never go hungry at Fanatical.

Notable Games: Prey Deluxe Edition, Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein, Blasphemous, Amid Evil, Dusk, Resident Evil Village, Devil May Cry 4, Dead Island 2, High on Life

3. Humble Bundle Choice ($15)

Humble Bundle is a curated selection of new and indie games in your catalog every month. These games are yours to keep FOREVER, and the proceeds benefit charity. If you hunger for gaming experiences and yearn to be pleasantly surprised, the Choice Subscription will not disappoint. Hopefully, you have a strong enough gaming PC to play them.

Notable Games: The Plucky Squire, Destiny 2 Deluxe Edition, Farming Simulator, WWE 2K25, System Shock, Batman: Arkham series, Warhammer games, Atomic Heart

4.  Amazon Luna+ ($10 a month)

It feels odd praising a trillion-dollar corporate giant for supporting gamers, but Luna fits the bill. Luna is a pure Xbox Cloud gaming experience, allowing you to play over 100 games. None of the offerings are Day One releases, but Luna has secured some licenses from Sega, Capcom, Warner Bros, and SNK that you won’t find anywhere else. If you subscribe to Luna+, you will have access to play some of your Epic and GOG catalog as a bonus. Luna+ is a little slow for getting new games, but that gives you time to beat the hundred they have. This is an excellent alternative to Game Pass Ultimate, available for one-third the price.

Notable Games: Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Superstars, Devil May Cry 5, Earthworm Jim, King of Fighters 98, Resident Evil 2, Nobody Saves the World, Dead Island 2, Lego DC Super-Villains, Garfield Kart, Garfield Lasagna Party, SpongeBob: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, Jedi Survivor

5. PS+ Premium ($17 a month, $160 a year)

PlayStation offers its own streaming service, featuring hundreds of games for the PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, and Vita. It’s the only option to play console-quality exclusives for a fraction of the cost. However, I recommend this as a last option for anyone who doesn’t have a PS4 or PS5. PC gamers must choose the Premium option, and they cannot stream from their phone. Additionally, the PS5 offerings are tied to a specific console. If they ever created a phone app to play Premium games, it would blow Game Pass out of the market. But Sony wants to be locked to their $500 rectangles. Boo.

Notable Games: God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, Tekken, Street Fighter, BlazBlue, Spider-Man, Last of Us

6. GeForce Now ($50 for 6 months)

Technically, GFN does not offer you any paid games for free. What it does do is transport your Epic, Steam, EA, and Xbox libraries to their blazing-fast streaming PCs. You can access your library from mobile devices/tablets/PC. No more worries about disk storage and hardware requirements, you have a choice selection of games. GFN doesn’t allow all your games on their platform, but you can subscribe to the Humble Bundle Choice and play your brand-new games on their cloud. That would cost you $280 a year (compared to Game Pass Ultimate’s $360).

Notable Games: The AAA and indie titles in your Steam and Epic library.

7. EA Play ($36 a year)

We don’t like EA right now, but if you have to play the Crysis trilogy and Battlefront 2, you have the option to do so for dirt cheap.