Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass may soon get family plan

(Image Courtesy: Microsoft)

Microsoft is planning to add a new tier to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service that will let up to five players play games using one family plan that insiders say will be priced cheaper than individual offerings.

According to the publication Windows Central, the Redmond technology giant had been mulling the possibility of adding a family plan for a while now, and is now ready to launch it sometime this year.

Also Read: Microsoft reduces Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold prices in India, cheapest plan now starts at Rs. 349

Insiders told the publication that the plan will be priced cheaper than the cost of five individual accounts, and Microsoft will use Office 365's family account system to manage it. For now, there is no confirmation on whether there will be separate tiers for console and PC players, or if the plan will be exclusive to the highest Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier, which starts at Rs 699 a month in India.

Microsoft announced recently that it would cut prices for the Xbox Game Pass starting April 2022. Under the new pricing, the cheapest plan for the Game Pass will start at Rs. 349 and the Game Pass Ultimate would cost Rs. 499, though it appears that the new prices have not come into effect yet.

Sony has also announced a competing service to the game pass, by retooling its PlayStation Plus service into three separate tiers. The basic tier will be similar to how things are now, giving players the ability to play online, cloud saves, discounts on the store and two games to download and keep per month.

Also Read: Sony announces new PlayStation Plus subscription service for PS4, PS5 games; check details

The PlayStation Plus Extra tier will give you all the benefits of the basic tier while adding a catalogue of 400 PlayStation 4 and 5 games to play. These will be a mix of first party and third party titles.

The Premium tier will add even more games, returning PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 classics, as well as the ability to stream PlayStation 3 games over the cloud. PlayStation Portable games will also be a part of the Premium tier.

Sony's service is set to go live in June.