In a nutshell: Microsoft has officially confirmed the long-rumored Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan, which allows one membership to be shared across five accounts. The plan has been launched in Ireland and Colombia at a reasonable price of around $11.20 per month.
Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family lets members share their subscription with up to four friends and family members, and each account receives the usual benefits of Game Pass Ultimate such as access to over 100 games, EA Play membership, and console multiplayer. Group members will also have their own achievements and cloud saves, as each person uses their own account and Xbox profile.
As the plan can be shared across five accounts, it amounts to less than €5 per user, which is certainly reasonable when compared to the €12.99 per month for Game Pass Ultimate. And with Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Diablo coming to Xbox Game Pass soon, the deal looks even more attractive.
Game Pass Friends & Family is different from the more traditional family plan where sharing is limited to users under one roof. A service such as Spotify requires new members to verify their address before being able to join. The only restriction for Game Pass Friends & Family is that group members have to reside in the same country/region.
The primary account holder will be responsible for payments and adding users to the group. Naturally, users can only belong to one group at a time and they cannot share their benefits with other accounts.
Users who have an existing Game Pass or Gold membership will have their plan automatically converted:
- 30 days Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is 18 days Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family
- 30 days Xbox Game Pass (Console) is 12 days Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family
- 30 days PC Game Pass is 12 days Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family
- 30 days Xbox Live Gold is 12 days Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family
- 30 days EA Play is 6 days Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family
Microsoft said “future countries/regions might be added in the next months,” and with the holiday season approaching, we could see the service being rolled out in the US, UK, and Europe. Microsoft will be hoping to see an increase in their player base, and there could potentially be some growth in the sales of their Xbox Series X and Series S consoles.