Microsoft’s longstanding introductory offer for its Xbox Game Pass subscription platformwhich allowed users to try the service for the first time for $1 Month before the transition to more expensive payments, has finally come to an end.
As The edge reportthe deal – which applied to both Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass – was recently closed, with a Microsoft spokesman saying: “We have discontinued our previous Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass introductory offer and are evaluating various marketing promotions for new members going forward.”
What these “various marketing promotions” might be is anyone’s guess, although the whole point of the $1 deal was to hook new users, A natural successor could easily be the Xbox Game Pass Friends and Family program, which while not yet available in the US, has been trialled in a number of international markets since late 2022.
Anyone who has signed up for Game Pass will see months from existing subscriptions converted to split plan months. If you are currently signed up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, each remaining month becomes 18 days of Game Pass Friends and Family. Those who signed up for the piecemeal tiers will see their subscriptions convert to 12 days of Game Pass Friends and Family.
However, there are some limitations. If you are the account holder, you can only have four other people on an account at any given time and can only share with eight individual accounts over the course of a calendar year. And it’s region-locked: the main account holder can only add members who live in the same country or region.
While this isn’t a 1:1 replacement for the $1 offering it was just a good deal for everyoneit means people Recommending Xbox Game Pass to friends or family would be a pretty easy way to get them on board through their own account.
It’s a shame to see the $1 deal go away as I’m sure many/most of you have benefited from it, but if you weren’t ready for the time Xbox decided to start with things like this, You have paid too little attention to television and sports in the last five years.
