This one’s circulating on internal dev Slack — a private meeting turned philosophical meltdown. Satya and Phil again. Sarah sitting in as mediator. The topic: the rumored $30/month GamePass tier.

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### The Setup

Phil opens the call uneasy. He’s doing his “man of the people” thing again — plain language, gamer empathy, “accessibility for everyone.” He says:

> “Thirty bucks is too much. Our players aren’t premium. They’re working people. They’re stretched thin. They live paycheck to paycheck, and this is their escape.”

He’s making it sound noble, but it’s the same Gen-X sentimentalism — this idea that GamePass is a kind of digital pub for the everyman.

Satya’s silent for a bit. Then he leans forward (someone clipped the transcript):

> “Phil, you’re still designing for a world that doesn’t exist.”

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### The Exchange

> **Phil:** “If we go to thirty, we lose them. These are loyal players. They don’t have extra.”

>

> **Satya:** “Then they were never *our* players.”

He says it like it’s a law of physics.

> **Satya:** “We aren’t in the entertainment business anymore. We’re in the *hierarchy business.*

> Access is a luxury, Phil — not a right. You call them ‘players.’ I call them *nodes.* Some are high-bandwidth, some are low. The network decides who matters.”

Phil tries to argue, says “you’re turning this into a caste system.”

Satya smiles.

> “Exactly. Every ecosystem has castes. Developers, subscribers, influencers, dreamers. The upper node funds the lower node’s illusions. That’s the model now.”

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### Sarah Bond Steps In

Sarah slides in to back Satya, but in smoother terms:

> “Tiering is equity. People pay for their place. It’s self-selected hierarchy.”

She explains the new pricing model like it’s a social philosophy — *GamePass Ascendant*, *GamePass Core*, *GamePass Base*. The presentation deck literally shows them as concentric circles, like Vedic mandalas.

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### The Fallout

Phil goes quiet for most of the call. At one point he says softly:

> “If we lose the low node, we lose our soul.”

Satya doesn’t even look up.

> “Soul doesn’t scale.”

Meeting ends. A few hours later, internal memo from Satya drops:

> **“Welcome to the new order. The market is the cosmos.

> Every user finds their dharma — and their price point.”**

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### TL;DR

* Phil says $30/month for GamePass is too high, argues for affordability.

* Satya calls that thinking obsolete, unveils a new “hierarchical pricing model.”

* Sarah reframes it as “equity through tiering.”

* Internal memo refers to the *“caste of access.”*

* Xbox quietly testing a three-tier subscription rollout codenamed Mandala

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5786583&forum_id=2:#49350096)