Microsoft Officially Reveals Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family Plan

UPDATE 9/2: Microsoft has now officially revealed the Game Pass Friends & Family(Opens in a new window) subscription option, but for now pricing is only available for Ireland and Columbia.

In return for €21.99 (US$22) per month (49,900 COP in Colombia), you can have up to five people registered to a Friends & Family subscription. They each get their own account and Xbox profile, with the only restriction being all subscribers need to reside in the same country/region. The benefits on offer match that of a standard Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

As The Verge reports(Opens in a new window), even though we don’t have pricing for the US yet, it’s expected Microsoft will price the new subscription tier at $25 per month. That means it could cost you just $5 per month if you have four friends willing to sign up and share the account. For reference, the individual Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription costs $14.99 per month.

UPDATE 8/30: Since news of the limited preview dropped, branding for the family plan has leaked via Aggiornamenti Lumia(Opens in a new window) on Twitter (via VG247(Opens in a new window)). It seems as though Microsoft isn’t going to try and limit the plan to just family members as the branding refers to “Friends & Family.”

Tweet(Opens in a new window)

If true, it means the “Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family Plan” will likely only be limited by the number of people you can add to the account. It would also explain why the preview has a limit of four people in the same country rather than specifically stating four family members.

I think this is Microsoft simply embracing the fact that family plans are generally shared with non-family members, so why fight it?

Original Story 8/5:
Microsoft is running a limited preview for an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership that can be shared with up to four people.

Xbox Insiders located in Colombia and Ireland can now add multiple people to their Game Pass Ultimate subscription, with up to four people supported per membership. And even though it’s a shared account, each person can access content individually and play different games to each other.

The only restriction of sharing a Game Pass Ultimate membership, at least for the preview, is that the people being added need to reside in the same country as you. If that remains the case when Microsoft roles out what we assume will end up being called a “Family Plan” to consumers, it means multiple households could share a single membership. That will come in handy if, for example, a family member leaves home to go to university.

Insiders must purchase the “Xbox Game Pass – Insider Preview” Game Pass plan in order to share their membership. Microsoft says no member will lose the remaining value of an existing Game Pass subscription when they switch over, and they can switch back once this new membership expires. Anyone invited to share a membership can either cancel their existing membership or wait for it to expire before accepting the invite. And for anyone invited who doesn’t have a Microsoft account, one will be created as part of the sign-up process.

The Xbox Wire post(Opens in a new window) about this preview lists a number of issues which may prevent you from switching to the new membership or result in your account being temporarily blocked. It’s worth reading through them before attempting to join if you are an eligible Insider.

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