The latest Xbox Game Pass leak seemingly confirms that Microsoft is planning to introduce a new tier to the subscription service.
At the time of writing this article, it is possible that xbox game pass subscribers to share their subscription with another person by making that person’s console their “home” Xbox. It works the same way as game sharing, but now it looks like there may be an easier way to share your Xbox Game Pass benefits.
In select regions, Microsoft has started testing an Xbox Game Pass family plan that allows users to share their subscription with up to four other people. It appears that Microsoft may be moving forward with plans to expand the Xbox Game Pass family plan to more users, as the service’s official name and logo have been leaked online. As shared by Aggiornamenti Lumia on Twitter, it looks like the Xbox Game Pass family plan will officially be called Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family.
We don’t know exactly when the Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family service will be available to all Xbox gamers, and it’s also unclear exactly how much it will cost. One has to imagine that the Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan will cost more than a standard Game Pass subscription, but again, pricing information isn’t currently available. If Microsoft is indeed gearing up to launch the Friends & Family tier of Xbox Game Pass, one has to imagine an announcement will be coming in the relatively near future since the logo was leaked.
An Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan has an obvious immediate benefit for Microsoft. Potentially, Xbox Game Pass will be in the hands of more people who might not otherwise be willing to sign up for the service. In turn, this opens the door for these people to play games on Xbox Game Pass, and those same people may be tempted to buy the games they like to keep. After all, games are removed from Xbox Game Pass on a regular basis, and it stands to reason that some potential new Game Pass users will find games they’d like to keep for their digital libraries.
This could also tie into Microsoft’s plans to bring Game Pass to more platforms besides Xbox consoles. Someone without an Xbox console could still potentially benefit from being part of an Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan because they would be able to play games on their phones thanks to Xbox cloud services. However, finer details like this have yet to be explained, so fans have to wait for more information.
The Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan may be a new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefit, but that remains to be seen. It would certainly sweeten the pot quite a bit and might convince those who have yet to upgrade their Game Pass plan to opt for the higher tier, but it’s also possible that Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family will be something else entirely. Hopefully, Microsoft offers more clarification sooner rather than later so Game Pass subscribers don’t have to speculate on what Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family has in store.
