Xbox Game Pass family subscription may be coming to more countries in the coming months
The Xbox Game Pass family subscription that Microsoft has been testing in Ireland and Colombia for a month will be expanded to additional countries “possibly in the coming months.” As of Thursday, the Friends & Family subscription is also available for non-Insider users.
Microsoft says The Friends & Family subscription is currently being tested in Colombia and Ireland, but the subscription may become available in additional countries or regions in the coming months. Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family is the new name of Xbox Game Pass Family. Presumably Microsoft wants to make it clear that the subscription is not only intended for families, but that friends can also share the subscription.
Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family is a partial subscription that costs 22 euros per month. For that, five people will get access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a combination of Xbox Live Gold and the games from Game Pass. These five people do not have to share an address, as can be mandatory with other shared subscriptions. Those five users must be resident in the same country. As a result, the subscription cannot be used outside of Ireland and Colombia for the time being. Normally Game Pass Ultimate costs 13 euros per month.
The subscription has been tested in the two countries since August 5. Back then, only Microsoft Insider users could subscribe. Since Thursday, all users in those two countries can take out the subscription.
Friends & Family does have a number of conditions, in addition to the maximum of five members. Only eight users can participate in one subscription each year. So if eight users leave a group in a year, no new users can be added.
Users can only join a group twice in a year. If they are kicked out of a group twice in a year, or if they choose to leave a group twice, they cannot join a new group. Group members also cannot share their Game Pass benefits with roommates, only the main account of the subscription can.
If users still have an ongoing Xbox subscription and upgrade to Friends & Family, the remaining time will be converted. For example, a 30-day Ultimate subscription becomes an 18-day Friends & Family subscription.