The head of marketing at Xbox Aaron Greenberg has questioned whether the proposed increase for next-generation titles is a concern when subscription services like Game Pass exist.

Appearing on the Real Deal podcast, the exec was asked about whether Microsoft would be charging extra for versions of its games for the upcoming Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles. Publishers including Take-Two, Activision and Sony are all charging $10 more for these fancier editions of new games.

Greenberg said that he wasn't sure price was a concern for the Big M given that all of its first-party titles would be launching straight into Game Pass anyway.

"It's a different approach, and they have a right to do whatever they want to do with their pricing," he said.

"But for us, we've really taken a fan-centric approach, first with Smart Delivery, and most importantly, you get all our games at launch with Game Pass. So does the price of a game even matter, if it's included in your Game Pass subscription?"

Xbox Game Pass has seen a 50 per cent increase in subscribers between April and September of this year, largely driven by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The Big M has recently announced that PC version of its subscription service will cost more; after being introduced in August 2019, users were paying just $4.99 but are now being asked to pay $9.99.