The $1 Xbox Game Pass subscription recently returned after being removed – to the great ire of many gamers on a budget – back in March. However, Microsoft silently reduced the length of the trial period for the games subscription service.
The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate $1 monthly trial period was relaunched by Microsoft in July. The popular trial offer was removed earlier this year as the company said that it was “evaluating different marketing promotions.”
Just a month after its return, Xbox fans noticed that the trial period has been shortened to just 14 days. It is less than half of the previous month-long trial period. The change was first reported by the Polish gaming site XGP.
Gamers can now try out the Xbox Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscription services for just 14 days at $1 then pay the full subscription price after. The Xbox Game Pass for Consoles doesn’t have a trial period and is priced at $11 monthly.
Game Pass $1 offer is now only for 14 days instead of 1 month https://t.co/8tUcvdYHX3https://t.co/YyikFfWP0T pic.twitter.com/TujfohoxJ3
— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 8, 2023
The trial period gives players full access to Xbox’s full catalog of Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass titles. However, having a shorter period gives gamers significantly less time to enjoy the full spectrum of titles available to them – unless they use the various tricks to restart the timer that were around before.
After the trial period ends, subscribers will have to pay a recurring monthly subscription. For Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the service costs $16.99 per month while PC Game Pass will cost $9.99. Interestingly, about 70% of subscribers have subscribed to the Game Pass Ultimate which is significantly more expensive.
Xbox announced in June that it was increasing the subscription price for both Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate. The premium tier cost an additional $2 while the Game Pass added $1 to the monthly fee. Microsoft quickly clarified that the increase was in no way related to the Activision Blizzard deal.
Microsoft recently revamped its subscription service offerings. The company is retiring the Xbox Live Gold and replaced it with Game Pass Core, marking the end of an era in gaming. Xbox calls the new subscription tier an “evolution.”
“With this evolution, we’re saying farewell to Games with Gold,” Jerret West, CVP, Gaming Marketing, said in a post on Xbox Wire. “We wanted to use this opportunity to re-imagine how to include content with this subscription. We found that the answer to the most compelling catalog was to leverage select titles from our Xbox Game Pass catalog.”
Xbox Game Pass Core allows players access to console multiplayer and a catalog of 25 games. Microsoft has said that it will be adding more titles to Game Pass Core at least two to three times a year.
