Xbox Game Pass’ $1 deals come to an end

For the last few years, it’s been the best deal in gaming: one month of Game Pass for one dollar. Microsoft’s trial offer for the first month of an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscription was a great introduction to the service as well as being a great way to sample — or, given a whole month, play the entirety of — new releases for just a buck.

But it is no more. As reported by The Verge, Microsoft has decided to move on from the offering.

“We have stopped our previous introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass and are evaluating different marketing promotions for new members in the future,” Xbox head of global communications Kari Perez told The Verge in a statement.

Offers of a free seven-day trial before the monthly payments kick in are standard in the subscriptions business, but what made the Game Pass promotion so appealing was that the offer extended a full month, giving players time to try a bunch of games or fully immerse themselves in one title.

Why Microsoft has decided to bring it to a close is anyone’s guess; perhaps, with the service having grown to 25 million subscribers by Microsoft’s latest reckoning (in January 2022), it’s not attracting new members fast enough any more.

Xbox Game Pass started in June 2017, with the $1 trial subscription offers quickly following. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which bundles an Xbox Live Gold membership with access to Game Pass’ console and PC libraries for a $14.99 monthly fee, was introduced in 2019.