There’s one thing that I would be happy to pay more for an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription if I were getting. It definitely isn’t Fortnite Crew.
It’s a family plan. It’s 2025, Microsoft has been pushing the whole “everything is an Xbox” marketing scheme, and yet, for families, there still is no convenient way to properly share Game Pass with your children.
Yes, I do currently share my Game Pass Ultimate subscription with my son. But it’s severely limited, and I absolutely won’t be thinking about buying a separate subscription just for him. Certainly not now that my existing one will cost me £8 a month more here in the UK.
That’s probably what Microsoft wants. But they’re not going to get it, and I’m fairly confident in saying I’m not alone there. I’m not alone in wanting a family plan, either.
This is my main gripe right now with Xbox Game Pass, regardless of the most recent changes to what you get and how much you pay for it. There’s no family plan, there’s no sign of there ever being a family plan, and honestly, if Xbox had chucked one in while jacking up the price, I’d be totally fine with it.
Instead, we get some Fortnite stuff. So, yay for that, I guess.
Xbox tested a Game Pass family plan, and then swept it aside
This was back in 2022. It was always known to be a test preview of such a service, but then, it just disappeared. The preview ended, and seemingly, the idea was swept aside.
Back in December 2023, my esteemed colleague, Jez Corden, spoke to the head honcho himself, Phil Spencer, and raised the question of the uh.. plan, for a family plan.
Spencer said:
“Yeah, there is a roadmap for the Xbox Family Plan. We put it in market to learn. It’s important for us, and for everybody, to understand that Game Pass is mainly driven by our partners’ content. Yes, we put our first party games in day and date, and I think that’s an important part of our equation. But we also have to continue to build a service that works for creators heading into Xbox Game Pass as well. So we do some tests, we look at what happens in the market, we share that data with our partners.
We need to come up with a value proposition for creators and for players, to make it a win-win. And we’ve been able to do that with how Game Pass is structured. We’ll continue to look at ways to bring value to more customers, while continuing to make it a great service for creators.”
Almost two years on from that interview, we have a price increase and a far-too-complicated-to-understand tier system, but the family plan is still completely MIA.
Why we even need an Xbox Game Pass family plan
Some folks might be wondering why this is such an important request from those of us who feel passionately about it. After all, you can let others in your household make use of your subscription, can’t you?
This is true, and I do it with my son. His Xbox Series S is set as our home console, so he can access the benefits of my subscription. My Xbox Series X and PC can also use the same subscription.
But it’s severely limited. Only one of us can play a Game Pass game at a time, so if he wants to play Forza Horizon 5 and I want to play Black Ops 6, one of us can’t play at all.
Only two accounts can share library access, too, and it has to be on an Xbox designated as the home console.
I only have one of my children who shares my Xbox library, but what about families with more? With multiple consoles, PCs, or handhelds, it’s a logistical nightmare to share a single subscription.
This is where a family plan should come in, just as Apple has across its ecosystem. Set up a family/friend group of approved accounts, and all of those can independently play Game Pass games any time they like. Or even together! If I happened to be away from home, I couldn’t remotely play Forza Horizon 5 with my son right now; I’d need to buy an extra copy of the game.
I know it’s not as easy as it perhaps seems. Everyone wants to be paid for it, and that’s fair. The more variables you introduce, the more uncertain the potential return for the developers putting their games onto Game Pass.
But we’re three years on from the first testing of such a program, another two years on from it being still “on the roadmap,” and yet, even with a 50% price increase to Game Pass Ultimate, still no sign of it ever happening.
The marketing video that went along with the Game Pass changes said “we’ve listened to your feedback,” and I really have to question that. For years, a family plan has been something a sizable portion of the Xbox community has been asking for. So if we’re really being listened to.. what’s happening with it?
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