Xbox Game Pass for Friends and Family sounds like a great deal

After a flurry of rumors and leaks, Xbox has finally revealed some details about its account sharing plan for Game Pass. Call Friends and family gameIt is not yet available in the United States. But when (or if) it eventually becomes available outside of the countries where Microsoft is testing it, it sure looks like it would be a great thing.

At the moment, Game Pass is indeed one of the best deals in gaming. For $10 a month, you get access to a periodic library of hundreds of games on your Xbox or PC. For $15 per month, you can subscribe to the top tier: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which provides combined access to both the Xbox and PC libraries, packages in the game library of EA Play (a similar on-demand sports game publisher service), and offers the ability to stream More than 100 games. Game Pass Friends and Family is largely Ultimate, but you can share one account between five people, with one person designated as the primary account holder..

Game Pass Friends and Family is currently in beta in Colombia and the Republic of Ireland, costing COP 49,000 or €21.99 per month, respectively. (As of this writing, this fee converts to $10.92 or $21.99 in US currency.) Xbox Game Pass Ultimate currently costs 29,000 COP in Colombia And the €12.99 in Ireland.

Anyone who signs up for Game Pass will see months of their current subscriptions converted to partial months in their participation plan. If you are currently subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, each remaining month will turn into 18 days of Game Pass Friends and Family. Those who sign up for split tiers will see their subscriptions convert to 12 days of Game Pass Friends and Family.

In theory, assuming Microsoft maintains a similar pricing system around the world, Game Pass Friends and Family is worth considering. Assuming the company is in line with the higher figure, the roughly $22 price point currently in effect in Ireland, it’s still a good deal. Get four friends on board, and you’ll all pay less than $5 for everything you’ll get for three times that cost. (It’s also a smart way for Microsoft to increase Game Pass subscriber numbers, which Last missed goals.)

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There are some limitations, however. If you’re the account holder, you can only have four additional people on an account at any given time, and can only share with eight unique accounts over the course of a calendar year. And it’s region-locked: The primary account holder can only add members who live in the same country or region.

It is unclear if there are specific plans to bring Game Pass Friends and Family to regions beyond the two Microsoft is currently testing the plan in, or what a potential timeline there would be. (Representatives for Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.) But Microsoft published Encyclopedic FAQ On the US Xbox support page, which suggests there are at least some considerations for US gamers. He notes that “future countries may be added in the coming months.”