It is no secret that a huge factor in the success of the Xbox Game Pass service is the value for money that it offers players, with an ever-expanding roster of attractive titles being available for a reasonably priced monthly fee. While the service has exploded even further in popularity in recent years, it appears that Microsoft is attempting to expand the value of Game Pass even further.

News of a new Friends and Family subscription tier to Xbox Game Pass has recently dominated the discourse surrounding the service, aiming to revolutionize how Game Pass operates. Offering its own unique price point while maintaining a slew of benefits and perks, it is clear as to why the new plan has drawn so much attention among fans.

RELATED: Best Strategy Games On Xbox Game Pass (September 2022)

The Basics of Xbox Game Pass' Friends and Family Plan

xbox game pass ultimate logo green background

The Friends and Family plan for Xbox Game Pass is intended to encourage account sharing among multiple people, breaking the industry norm of cracking down on sharing practices by other streaming giants such as Netflix. The plan is set to allow up to five people enjoy the benefits of Game Pass Ultimate under one single subscription and one single monthly payment, meaning players can split the cost with friends or family to make some seriously impressive savings.

A Game Pass Ultimate subscription is the most holistically beneficial subscription within the entire service, boasting a huge range of perks and benefits. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate allows subscribers access to the huge Game Pass roster across console, mobile, and PC, providing one of the most expansive collections of titles in all of gaming. Alongside this, Ultimate offers access to EA Play titles, Xbox Live membership, the ability to play an array of titles via cloud gaming across different devices, and an ever-changing selection of in-game perks and benefits for a range of popular titles. As mentioned above, with the Friends and Family subscription, up to five players can simultaneously enjoy these benefits.

The Likely Pricing of Xbox Game Pass' Friends and Family Subscription

xbox game pass playing with friends

Before delving into what the prices of the Friends and Family subscription will likely be, it is important to first contextualize the prices of existing subscription tiers for the service and how they will compare in terms of value. Currently, both the standard console and PC tiers of Xbox Game Pass are priced at $9.99 per month each, with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate combining the two and adding the aforementioned benefits for $14.99 per month.

While global pricings for the Friends and Family plan remain currently unknown, the service is being trialed in Ireland and Colombia, meaning that fans can get a rough idea of what kind of price point to expect. In Ireland, the trial plan currently costs €21.99 per month, and is currently 49,990 COP in Colombia. Going off these two comparative prices, it is safe to assume that the Friends and Family pass will cost around $20 per month in the United States.

Considering that this is only a price increase of roughly $5 from the individual Ultimate subscription, the added value of the Friends and Family pass is clear to see. Divided between five users, the Friends and Family pass may only cost $4 per person under a single subscription, almost four times cheaper than an individual Ultimate subscription. If these prices are to remain consistent upon the eventual global rollout of the Friends and Family tier, then the Xbox Game Pass service may experience an even larger amount of success than what it has already seen.

MORE: Xbox Game Pass Subscribers Should Play A Plague Tale While They Still Can