It seems that Microsoft is currently doing a soft launch for Xbox Game Pass’ Friends & Family Plan. (UPDATE BELOW)
As reported by Wario64, an Xbox user received an offer for Game Pass Friends & Family Plan on their Xbox homepage. The offer is for $ 39.95 a month, but Wario64’s research suggests that this is pricing for New Zealand and not the US.
UPDATE: Tom Warren of the Verge has verified that Game Pass Friends & Family is not planned for release in the US. The original source of the rumor, who goes by Jawmuncher on Twitter, also clarified that their account was set on the New Zealand region (they were playing Resident Evil 4 Remake early) and forgot about it or got confused. They only saw the New Zealand deal for Game Pass Friends & Family because their Xbox account was set to New Zealand.
The original story follows below.
At this time, Game Pass Friends & Family is only available in Colombia, Chile, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden. So this information may only be reflective of what already exists for Game Pass subscribers have in New Zealand, and does not indicate the final product in the US or the rest of the world. It is, however, also possible that this feature is under soft launch, AKA, they’re still testing it out in some parts of the US.
Here is what they Game Pass Friends & Family Plan ad copy states:
“1 month for $ 39.95
Automatically continues at $ 39.95 per month
Share the fun of Game Pass
- Ultimate benefits shared among 5 friends and family
- Include friends and family outside your household
- Enjoy hundreds of games together including new releases on day one
- Each account gets their own history, achievements, gamertag and saves
- Play at the same time on console, PC & cloud
- With games added all the time, there’s always something new for everyone
New Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family members only. Subscription continues automatically at regular price unless cancelled. Game catalog varies. Primary members’ existing Gold, Game Pass and EA Play subscription time will be converted using a converted ratio. This may result in less time than your original subscription. All conversions are final. Geographic limitations apply.”
As we had recently reported, Microsoft had very recently ended their deal for $ 1 Game Pass Ultimate one month trial. We already knew that Microsoft was looking for different ways to increase subscriptions to Game Pass to replace this offer.
While we ourselves hadn’t discussed this, others did speculate that what Microsoft had in mind was a broader rollout of Game Pass Friends & Family across the world.
If that is their plan, it may take some time before we actually see it for players around the world. Microsoft themselves also announced they had expanded the number of countries and regions that can buy Game Pass. But that is going through a slow rollout.
That delay would be because of the different regional restrictions that exist in different countries and regions. But if Microsoft has already decided on this, US is surely one of the first regions that will be getting Game Pass Friends & Family.
This could mean we will see more Americans get offers for Game Pass Friends & Family, but it isn’t quite ready for a countrywide launch yet. Microsoft will definitely be announcing when such a big change is forthcoming.
