Three years after its launch on Xbox consoles, Xbox Game Pass remains one of the best deals in gaming to this day. This especially true if you opt for the Ultimate tier that now includes Xbox Game Pass for PC, Xbox Live Gold, EA Play, and Xbox Cloud Gaming on Android.
If you just have one Xbox console at home, you can share your Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold benefits with other family members by setting up your Xbox as your “Home Console” in Settings. Once you do that, all family members who sign in on your console will get access to your Game Pass benefits, in addition to your personal Game library.
Unfortunately, the situation becomes complicated if you own multiple Xbox consoles, as you can only have a single “Home” console where anyone who signs in to the console with their profile will have the ability to access your Game Pass subscription. The workaround is to sign in on any other Xbox you own to share your Game Pass subscription with everyone as long as you’re signed in, but this isn’t really convenient.
A lot of subscription services such as Spotify or Apple Music have introduced Family plans in recent years, and Microsoft also did it with Microsoft 365 Family subscription. A Twitter user recently asked Xbox head Phil Spencer if Microsoft was considering family plans for Xbox Game Pass, and the company is apparently open to the idea (via VG247).
“It’s something we’d like to do. There is Home console feature for one console household but for multiple family members with consoles a family plan would help,” Phil Spencer wrote.
We have. It's something we'd like to do. There is Home console feature for one console household but for multiple family members with consoles a family plan would help. Really appreciate the feedback.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 9, 2020
Microsoft recently announced that Xbox Game Pass had crossed over 15 million subscribers since launch and that Xbox Game Pass monthly engagement “more than doubled” in November compared to the same period last year. Introducing family plans for Xbox Game Pass could really help the service to get even more momentum in the coming months, though pricing will be key.
Speaking on the Dropped Frames podcast in October, Phil Spencer said that the current business model for Xbox Game Pass was “completely sustainable.” As of today, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is $14.99/month in the US, but for a limited time, new subscribers can pay just $1 for their first 3 months of subscription.
