Microsoft Brings Back $1 Game Pass Trials

Microsoft is once again letting Xbox and PC gamers try its Game Pass subscription service for just $1 (via Forbes). At the end of March, Microsoft discontinued its $1 Game Pass trials and replaced them in May with a new friend referral program, which was more restrictive.

With Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Friend Referral offer, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers could only share 14-day PC Game Pass trial codes with up to five friends. But now, Xbox and PC gamers who never tried Game Pass before get one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass for just $1. There’s no $1 trial for the standard Xbox Game Pass, but it’s not really a problem since you get the complete package with a $1 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate trial.

It’s not clear why Microsoft did a 180° on Game Pass trials, but the company may bet on the upcoming release of Starfield and Forza Motorsport to get more gamers to subscribe. Microsoft had a solid Xbox and Bethesda games showcase in June, and it seems Microsoft’s various game studio acquisitions are about to finally pay off.

While it’s good for Microsoft to bring back $1 Game Pass trials, the company has also quietly changed the Xbox Live Gold to Game Pass conversion ratio to make it less advantageous. Until now, gamers could pay for 3 years of Xbox Live Gold and convert that into 3 years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just the cost of one month of Game Pass Ultimate ($16.99).

Unfortunately, this 1:1 conversion rate has been changed to 3:2: This means that 3 years of Xbox Live Gold can now be converted to 2 years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate instead of 3. While this offer isn’t as generous as before, this is still the best way to save money on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions, which just went from $14.99/month to $16.99/month this week.