Microsoft has discontinued its long-running $1 trial offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. It is now considering new marketing and promotional offerings for its new members and prospective target audience.
Kari Perez, Head of Global Communications at Xbox, told The Verge in an official statement: “We have stopped our previous introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass and are evaluating different marketing promotions for new members in the future.”
If you are unfamiliar, Xbox Game Pass is a video games subscription service that grants access to a vast library of games. Microsoft first launched it in 2017, and in the six years since then, the software giant has made great strides in expanding its subscription service. This promotional campaign has been around for several years and earned a reputation for being one of the best deals in gaming. It was proven to be quite profitable for the company as it piqued the interest of new users and provided a fantastic opportunity to recommend the service to friends and family.
The $1 trial allowed people to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass for a month before the full Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription kicks in at $14.99/month or $9.99/month for the PC- or console-only subscriptions. If you are already a committed user of the Xbox Game Pass, you can relax because there are no changes in the pricing model, and you can continue getting the most out of your subscription. However, if you were someone interested in getting the $1 trial, you’d now have to take the plunge and shell out the full price for one month of the subscription.
Microsoft reportedly has many more exciting deals in the pipeline for its new users or something even better as comprehensive bundles. It is planning to expand its Friends & Family plan for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This plan allows customers to share their subscription benefits with up to four additional individuals. Microsoft expanded this Friends & Family plan to New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Hungary, Israel, and Sweden recently, but it’s still not available in many European markets or the UK and US. It also made its PC Game Pass subscription to 40 new countries, expanding Game Pass availability to a total of 86 markets, including Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Additionally, Microsoft is preparing to launch the Xbox mobile store early next year in an effort to disrupt Apple and Google’s hegemony in mobile gaming stores. Just one month after acquiring Activision Blizzard, the software juggernaut hinted at the “next-generation store,” as the Xbox CEO Phil Spencer remarked that the company is building the store in the anticipation of companies like Apple and Google being forced to open up their mobile app stores.
Words by: Khushboo Malhotra
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