Microsoft has gone out of its way to offer Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at a decent-if-not-great price so far. Not only has Microsoft offered up to 3 months of free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for new subscribers, but it also allowed Xbox players to upgrade their Xbox Live or Xbox Game Pass subscriptions to Ultimate for no extra cost. But as good as those deals have been, they're nowhere near as great as the new $.05-a-day sale that Microsoft now has listed for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
To clarify, the sale is almost certainly a glitch on Microsoft's part. As generous as Microsoft has been so far with its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate pricing, $.05 a day is extreme. That's $1.50 for a 30-day month or around $18 a year. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate normally costs $14.99 a month or $179.99 a year. A 90% discount would be absurd. That said, there's a very rare chance that it's intended. And even if it isn't, there's a very rare chance that Microsoft will honor the discount.
In order to claim the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate discount, users need to log in to their Microsoft account and go to the "Services & Subscriptions" tab. Within this tab should be an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service. From there, click on the "Manage" button next to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. On this new page, users will be able to "Change" their recurring billing using the "Switch Plan" submenu. From there, simply select the Daily Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plan for $.05. It should have a big yellow "SAVE 89%" label. If it doesn't, then Microsoft's likely fixed the error or ended the offer.
Why the deal is so clearly absurd is because of credit card fees for individual charges. Credit card fees routinely cost as much a $.25 per transaction, meaning that a daily $.05 subscription would actually cost Microsoft more than it would make from the deal. The full price without the 89% discount would be about $.50. Even that would be dented severely by a daily credit card transaction charge, but would still be profitable. $.50 a day for a month would end up being around $15 a month, in line with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's normal pricing.
One other possibility is that Microsoft is running a new promotion to encourage new subscribers to try Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Spending a nickel to try out various Game Pass games for a day is a great deal. Microsoft would potentially initially be at a loss, but once the discount ended and the price jumped back up Microsoft would once again be making money. Suffice to say, those who do try and take advantage of this discount should check their subscription routinely to make sure Microsoft hasn't reverted the pricing.
Expect further details regarding Microsoft's $.05-a-day pricing for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as it becomes available.
Source: Microsoft Account (via Wario64)