Since it first appeared in summer 2017, Microsoft has tried to tempt new subscribers by offering them their first month for £1, rather than the regular price of either £7.99 (PC or Xbox) or £10.99 (both with extras).
As you would expect, players would then be on the hook for a higher subscription cost if they failed to cancel before the next billing date, but it was still a very appealing offer. Given Microsoft’s first-party titles appear on the service on day one, gamers could simply take out a £1 trial and race through the latest game, rather than paying £69.99 for a copy.
“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,” a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed in a statement.
It’s not clear why Microsoft has ended the deal now, though it’s worth noting that its arch rival, Sony, no longer offers a free seven-day trial of its rival PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium services, either. Other non-gaming streaming services have abandoned similar offerings, too.
If you’re desperate for a free gaming fix, Amazon’s cloud-based Luna service launched in the UK last week, and its Plus service still offers a seven-day trial.
For those keen on joining Game Pass on the cheap, a long-standing trick for discount subscriptions still appears to exist, too.
How to get Xbox Game Pass for less
We’ve outlined the full details of how to get Game Pass Ultimate for cheap elsewhere, but here’s the quick explanation.
Away from Game Pass, Microsoft has another subscription service called Xbox Live Gold. It’s a far more basic offering, providing two free games per month and enabling multiplayer. But that makes it considerably cheaper — you can currently get it for £37.99 per year rather than the £95.88 or £131.88 you would pay with a rolling month-by-month Game Pass subscription.
But here’s the clever bit. As Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (the £131.88 option) includes the perks of Xbox Live Gold as part of the service, Microsoft will simply convert pre-paid months of the latter to the former. In other words, you can get up to three years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for £124.96 rather than £395.64.
A word of warning before we outline the steps, this could stop working at any time. If you want additional peace of mind before parting with your cash, check this Reddit thread first — the comments, sorted by newest, will confirm when it was last working.
Here’s how to do it:
- Make sure you don’t currently have an Xbox Game Pass subscription active, or this won’t work. Cancel your subscription and let it expire before proceeding.
- Pre-purchase as much Xbox Live Gold as you can afford up to a maximum of three years. CD Keys currently sells codes for £37.99 per year.
- Add these to your Microsoft account (you can do this from your computer to save you the pain of typing them in via a gamepad).
- Subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate for £10.99 via the Microsoft site or the Xbox dashboard.
- Voila: your existing Xbox Live Gold subscription will be magically upgraded to the more expensive and vastly better version at no extra cost.
Just be sure to turn off recurring billing on your Microsoft account page. That will mean you won’t start paying full price at the end of your reduced Xbox Live Gold time.
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