Microsoft will soon begin automatically cancelling dormant Game Pass subscriptions

pcgamer.com:

Following an investigation by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, Microsoft has said it will make changes to its Game Pass program that will make it easier for subscribers to cancel the service, and will stop taking payments for subscriptions that go dormant.

The CMA said that it first «identified concerns about certain features of Microsoft’s auto-renewing subscriptions» as part of a wider investigation into online gaming. Those concerns included clarity about automatic subscription renewal, ease of disabling automatic renewals, and whether customers may be unwittingly paying for old subscriptions that they were no longer using. 

As a result, Microsoft has now committed to making changes to its Game Pass and Xbox Live services, including:

«Gamers need to be given clear and timely information to make informed choices when signing up for auto-renewing memberships and subscriptions,» CMA executive director of enforcement Michael Grenfell said. «We are therefore pleased that Microsoft has given the CMA these formal undertakings to improve the fairness of their practices and protect consumers, and will be offering refunds to certain customers.»

Grenfell also warned that other companies offering subscriptions based services «should take note and review their practices to ensure they comply with consumer protection law.»

It's a situation a lot of us have likely been in at least once in our lives: Paying for services we're not using for months on end, because we've forgotten about them or it's just too much of a pain in the ass to cancel on the rare occasions that they come to mind. Either way, it's money wasted, and while the CMA announcement is short on specifics—there's no indication as to exactly how long «a long