After a week of rumour and speculation, Microsoft has confirmed it’s indeed launching a new subscription service called Xbox All Access, which includes hardware and Game Pass access for a monthly fee. According to the Xbox Australia team, there are no plans to bring the service here at this time, they told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
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A new page launched on the Microsoft Store today details the two plans available, both of which include an Xbox One console and 24 months of both Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. Like a phone deal you’d take out with a telco, you need to commit to a two-year contract to sign up for the service.
Those keen on grabbing the deal would need to visit a Microsoft Store in person and sign up for a Dell Preferred Account, which is essentially a line of credit, according to the page. Assuming you pass all that jazz, you can pay $US21.99 ($30 AUD) per month for an Xbox One S, or $US34.99 ($47.74 AUD) for the beefed-up Xbox One X.
So that works out to a total of $720 and $1,145.76 respectively. If you were to add up the value of each package separately and compare it, you’d save a little money on the One S, but only about $40 or $50. Either way, it’s an aggressive play by Microsoft who is pretty keen to make its console easier to afford.
Considering the number of games accessible via Game Pass, it’s a pretty decent deal. It’s a shame there are no plans to bring it to Australia, but I’d wager the company will want to test the waters in its home country before expanding.
