Microsoft has confirmed(opens in new tab) a rumored Xbox Game Pass family plan by announcing early testing for the program in Colombia and Ireland. As of today, Xbox Insiders in Colombia and Ireland can test a new plan that allows up to five users to share the same Xbox Game Pass subscription. Any accounts added by the main user will have “their own unique access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games, content, and benefits,” ostensibly preventing bottlenecks for multiple users playing at the same time. In theory, you should be able to play Halo Infinite campaign co-op with a single Xbox Game Pass subscription.
This new plan includes all of the benefits of Game Pass Ultimate, but it appears to be tied to a new type of plan. According to Microsoft, “to participate in the preview, you must purchase the ‘Xbox Game Pass – Insider Preview’ Game Pass plan in the Microsoft Store.” This will convert your remaining Game Pass subscription time based on its monetary value, and the new plan appears to be significantly more expensive.
For reference, a full 30 days of Game Pass Ultimate is worth 18 days of this Insider Preview family plan. Microsoft hasn’t released an exact pricing breakdown for the new plan, but since Game Pass Ultimate is normally $15 per month (or 50 cents per day), we can estimate that the new plan will be around $25 per month (roughly 83 cents per day) by working backwards from $15 spread across 18 days.
If this pricing is final, the math works out to exactly $25, which is almost too perfect to be a coincidence. This is a significant price increase over a standard subscription, but if you have four or five people on one subscription, it may be a good deal for your situation. “Conversion is final, and users must wait for their new membership to expire before returning to a previous membership,” Microsoft stated in a disclaimer. The company also stated that Xbox All Access members will not be able to participate in this preview of the new plan.
Sharing is caring, especially when it comes to games. Microsoft has begun testing an Xbox Game Pass family plan in two countries, which will allow users to share their subscriptions with other people! pic.twitter.com/u3QqRP8kvj
— GameSpot (@GameSpot) August 7, 2022
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Interestingly, Microsoft gaming head and Xbox boss Phil Spencer first proposed a Game Pass family plan in December 2020. “It’s something we’d like to do,” he said at the time. For the time being, this program is only available in Colombia and Ireland, but once it is available in more regions, you will be able to share your subscription with anyone in the same country as you without strict household-only restrictions. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for more information.