Just about a month ago, Xbox has brought back its popular $1 promotional deal for Xbox Game Pass on a global scale. Now, Microsoft made the offer worse again – and the reason for that could be one of the most anticipated games of the year.
Xbox Game Pass is a monthly subscription service offered by Microsoft that gives you access to hundreds of games and Xbox cloud streaming. Since its launch in 2017, as a new user you were able to test the service for one month for just $1 instead of paying the full (old) price of $14.99. The offer also counted for the PC version of Game Pass.
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In March 2023, Microsoft stopped the previous introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, just to bring it back about three months later. Now, with another month having passed, Microsoft is changing the deal again – unfortunately in a negative way for the user.
Xbox Game Pass For $1: Microsoft Changes Popular Promo Deal
The good news is: If you've never subscribed to Xbox Game Pass before, you can still benefit from the $1 promotional offer. But instead of a whole month, the free trial phase is now limited to 14 days.
Apart from that, the offer works the same as before. If you don't cancel your subscription, it will then automatically renew for another month, but then you'll have to pay the full price. This is where another big change comes in: Microsoft has recently raised the price for the Xbox Game Pass. The normal version will then cost you $10.99 per month in the U.S., the Ultimate version will cost you $16.99 per month.
Limited Xbox Game Pass Trial Phase: A Result Of The Starfield Release?
It remains unclear whether Microsoft's decision is rather a long planned strategical one or rather a tactical one. There is actually a good reason to limit the $1 offer coming up: The release of Starfield, Bethesda's highly anticipated ARPG, which will take place on September 6.
Starfield will be part of Game Pass as a day 1 release, and Microsoft will most likely try to avoid having people playing it for just one dollar – at least not for a full month. If the game will be as huge as expected, two weeks will probably not enough to see everything you want to see in the game.
For some users, this will possibly result in expanding the Game Pass subscription for the full price – and that's exactly what Microsoft wants you to do.
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