ALL THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF PC GAMES

News

Microsoft contemplating Xbox Game Pass family plan

Microsoft contemplating Xbox Game Pass family plan

Software giant Microsoft is reportedly looking into a family plan for its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

That's according to the head of Xbox Phil Spencer (pictured), who replied to a fan on Twitter (below) saying that this was something that the company would "like to do." The exec was answering a question about a family plan similar to what other subscription services like Spotify and Apple Music offer, whereby multiple users can stream at the same time from the same account.

This would be the latest in a long line of additions to Microsoft's subscription service.

Xbox Game Pass was rolled out in 2017, initially just for consoles, with a PC-specific version of offering coming in the summer of 2019. Between its launch and September of this year, Xbox Game Pass has attracted 15 million users, a 50 per cent increase on the number of players it boasted just six months earlier. No doubt this was likely driven by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Further additions to Xbox Game Pass have included a number of perks, including one month of Disney+, while EA Play has also come to the subscription service. Well, it's come to the console version of the platform, with the PC edition being delayed until 2021 from a previously-announced December release.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.