Microsoft Xbox Game Pass has killed its $1 14 day trial again ahead of Starfield launch

The $1 trial to check out Xbox Games Pass for 14 days for new subscribers has been removed yet again, just a few days ahead of the official launch of Starfield, which will be an Xbox Games Pass title.

[Snookies12]

Wow, how convenient... Scummy move, but honestly not very surprising...

[lelo2play]

If they wanted to control the people that abuse the $1 trial, they could implement activation by valid phone number. It would likely be harder for those people to continue abusing the system...

[4Sh0w]

Scummy? Wow so I guess they should have a $1 promotion forever...gamers are so entitled, if you want something you should be OK with paying for it, if not then you really don't want it.

[DarXyde]

4Sh0w,

Regardless of any agreement or disagreement I have with your reply, I'd like to clarify what you wrote:

"Gamers are so entitled, if you want something you should be OK with paying for it, if not then you really don't want it."

This, right here, can be applied not just to XGP price differences, but also XGP to full price games. Following your logic, if you don't buy a game full price and just expect it to be on XGP, is that entitlement on the part of XGP subscribers?

Looking to understand your point here.

EDIT:

I should add: you have to admit that it's kind of a dick move to pull the rug out days before Starfield, likely to get full (recently increased) price subs ahead of Starfield because it's cheaper than getting it full price.

They're a business, of course. But c'mon, mate. Let's not make excuses for the timing.

[ModsDoBetter]

Scummy move? 😂
The service is £10, the £1 promotion is exactly that - a promotion.

You all complain about Gane Pass not making money, not helping devs, etc etc yet when they try to...idk...make money, like any business would, you cry.

Make it make sense.

[EvertonFC]

Agreed, unfortunately though alot of gamers today expect everything practically free.
With how long this £1 offer was for, it's almost like the £10 feels like a price hike for them if that makes sense.
Basically I think alot of gamers don't think GP is worth £10 by the sounds of it which is crazy.
Happy to pay £1 but not £10?

[Crows90]

Except it's not a complaint but an observation. Them not making money on it is exactly why they suddenly removed the promotion. They want to try to actually make money now.

[crazyCoconuts]

Can't speak for others, but:
- I don't like the model around GamePass / PS Extra because i think it's bad for us long term
- I liked the $1/month repeatable promo because it'll make GamePass crash and burn faster
- I also liked it because... well... if there was a game i wanted to play i could play it for $1
- I don't think it's "scummy" to NOT have a promotion, but i will miss it
- I will still pay $10 to snipe a game like Starfield for a month if it ends up being good
- It won't be $10 / month for long either. Netflix effect is coming

[OptimusDK]

@crazycoconuts
If you don’t like it don’t use it. It’s that simple. Just buy the games you want nobody is forcing you to do it.
But I guess you knew that already just wanted to shit on GP as usual

[1Victor]

@old:”The service is £10, the £1 promotion is exactly that - a promotion. ”
How old is game pass?
As far as I can remember there’s has been a $1 “promotion “ whenever they needed to poof up their subs numbers all years round 🤦🏿

[crazyCoconuts]

@optimus, yeah I know I can ignore it. Like I said I think it's bad for the industry, so I speak up. I don't want sub services to grow to become the primary way we get games, so the faster they fail the better imo

[phoenixwing]

@myers
I complain about gamepass ruining the industry but I have to agree with you on defending the price hike. Microsoft isn't a charity and the people complaining here (mostly playstation fanboys) are crazy to demand it stay at 1 dollar.

[Andy_Dee]

Exactly this!

We should be happy that there is this type of service!

We want it, we need to pay for it, they decide the rules upon this service, doesn't suite us, don't sub to it.

And getting a such hyped game that's been long in the making, getting it day 1 btw and then complaining about the price xD

Then buy it physically or digitally for 70$ and don't complain!

Simple as that. No one is forcing ppl here to buy game pass for 9$ instead of 1$..

[spicelicka]

Honestly everyone including me has abused it to death. I've saved enough money to cover the cost of my series x. I'm surprised they kept it around for so long.

[CrimsonWing69]

How’s it scummy? Consumers abused it.

Let me ask you this, how is paying $17 for one month to access the game and also a library of all their Gamepass titles scummy?

What do the other platforms offer that is a better deal and “pro-consumer” in that regards?

I’ve paid $18 to see a movie and about half that for a soda and snack coming out to like $26. So, $17 for a full month to play Starfield and any other game I might be interested in on Gamepass seems to be the opposite of “scummy”.

[Traecy]

Cheap folks think it's scummy. Play-Asia & CD Keys always have good deals for 3 months of GP Ultimate.

[maniacmayhem]

Scummy?

Not long ago on this site, the "majority" was yelling at people to *support the devs*.

Now it's scummy that a $1 promotion (trial at that!!) that has been going on has ended.

Support the devs and buy the game or if you missed the trial price, pay for GP.

No need for the faux outrage

[mrcatastropheAF]

nah not scummy; just business.

You and everyone else in upheaval about this are just a tad salty you're no longer going to be able to play Starfield for $1 LOL

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Scum move not surprised ngl.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Gamepass isn’t particularly expensive at it’s regular price, the standard pricing is in line with other game and streaming subscriptions. The Xbox division and it’s studios have to make money, lol. Gamers are not entitled to what is essentially “free” games.

[Inverno]

Well duh, you can play all this game has to offer in 14 days. May as well give the game out for free if they allowed the promotion to keep going.

[EvertonFC]

They practically have with £10 GP, lots out there will blitz starfield in a month and be done with it?
If you play these games for 100s of hours may aswell just buy it but I can guarantee 50% will have moved onto the next game after a month.
Unfortunately gamers have attention spans of nats.

[Crows90]

After a month many will have already dedicated 100s of hours.

No. Gamers don't have that short attention span as you claim.
Casuals might but not because of attention span...just lack of interest in spending too much time in 1 game or maybe it gets too hard for them.

[neomahi]

I mean, they are giving it out for free. That's why (smart) gamers are concerned for developers and why we feel Game Pass is bad for the industry. Devs that make indie games that cost next to nothing, sure, it's promo for them, but then all of our games might as well be releasing on the Everdrive

[wiz7191]

MS makes so much money they don’t have to worry about first day sales like other companies .. that’s one thing ppl are missing , they have the money to offset first day sales but long term engagement will make them boat loads

[giovonni]

Man cut it out, yawl don’t care about no developers because the majority are still going to GameStop happy buying used and traded games which the developers see no profits from. The only reason game pass is getting flack is because you and others hate Microsoft. If it was offered with your preferred choice of system you’d love it, and to go as far as to pretend to not like it so you can seem neutral . Let’s cut the madness and let’s stop with the selective caring

[BlackTar187]

Dang gio that is a bunch of assumptions all in one small post.

[Christopher]

***MS makes so much money they don’t have to worry about first day sales like other companies***

People say stuff like this and then don't understand why people consider such a thing as anti-competitive.

"Oh, that guy over there? He's a billionaire, he doesn't worry about parking or speeding tickets. And that's a-o-k."

[mkis007]

Glad i waited that extra month 3 years ago.

[TheColbertinator]

Clever girl

[neomahi]

Of course it has. They've seen you can beat the game in 14 days and they only make $1. Typical Microsoft. Cloak and Dagger. Act now and ask for forgiveness later, and then with the failure of Xbox One, say: "You see, we're listening we hear you, we want to make Xbox for you." Don't forget, they've got a $69 billion investment they have to make back as well. I'm not at all shocked or surprised, though admittedly, like everyone else, I was gonna pay $1 to play Starfield and then not touch the service every again

[purple101]

Torrent it. ?

[ocelot07]

Booooooo I say boooooooo. Looks like £6 for GPU it is.

[Traecy]

I just paid $30 for 4 months of GP.

[GamingSinceForever]

😂 😂 these poor cheap bastards are about to be upset.

[franwex]

It’s gonna come back soon. Probably a whole month by November-ish.

[anast]

Open those wallets ghouls and ghoulettes.

[Tedakin]

Shocker, they want to make money.

[shinoff2183]

As much as I'm looking forward to starfield. Definitely a dirt ball move. Finally have a aaa game releasing and bam fk yall gamers
The timing alone is key. Why didn't they end it 3 months ago. Why didn't they end it instead of make it two weeks.

[StarkR3ality]

Dude grow up, you think that other streaming services don't do the same thing? Most of us normal people are paying for it full price anyway, they've been planning on getting rid of the £1 deals for a while now, now's a good time to commit to that, and keep up with the 1st party releases that are planned.

Regardless of me it's worth it on PC full price before Starfield just for 3rd party.

[Agent75]

I don’t even know how anyone has the time to play these type of games, let alone afford £70+.

[StarkR3ality]

Imagine charging full price for a service because of the biggest release of the year coming out /s.

Seriously guys, come on. At least PC/Xbox gamers have the option via game pass, Spiderman 2 will be £70 full stop. Which is fine but there's no other option.

Complaining that you can't get Starfield for $1 tells me that you either never planned to play it anyway as you own a playstation, or it tells me a whole lot about your annual income.

Either way millions of people will be playing it and you'll be sat there jealous, nener nener.

[ocelot07]

"Complaining that you can't get Starfield for $1 tells me that you either never planned to play it anyway as you own a playstation, or it tells me a whole lot about your annual income"

For me it's not about my income or that I never planned on playing it. My reason is I don't like gamepass in general. I don't agree with games being day one on it. I just think it's bad for games. Don't see how it makes them money.

They have even said it hurts game sales. But if Microsoft really want to keep pushing this gamepass and first party day one games so be it. I took advantage of the £1 a month for years. Sometimes they even offered 3 months for a pound. If they didn't want me paying £1 a month for gamepass for the last few years why did they keep offering me it?

If this new £1 for 2 weeks was still a thing in time for starfield then I would of took that offer. They obviously don't want me playing starfield for so cheap and that's fine. My next cheapest option is to buy a Xbox gamepass ultimate code for roughly £6 for a month. That's fine by me. I could get a cheaper pc gamepass but I want to swap between pc and xcloud so ultimate it is.

As for Spiderman. I enjoyed the other two. I know I'll get my £60 worth of enjoyment so I'll happily support Sony and the Devs with my purchase. Just like I did with Elden ring, Call of duty, dying light 2, grand theft auto, resident evil village.

[StarkR3ality]

That whole statement is incoherent tbh.

If the games good why does it matter how you play it? If you don't want to get game pass then don't, Starfield is currently the most pre-ordered game on steam so you know, game pass isn't hurting it that much clearly.

£70* btw, Sony games are £70 not £60.

[ocelot07]

@StarkR3ality

If Microsoft are happy putting there games on gamepass then I'll get gamepass at the cheapest possible price to play there games. Weather that is £1 for a month or £1 for 2 weeks what's the issue? I don't agree with games being on the service day one I think in the long run the quality of the first party titles will suffer.

But since Microsoft are fine with that. I'll pay for gamepass to play there games the cheapest way possible.

Same way I get Sony games cheapest way possible. £70 for Spiderman? Are you nuts? You do know disc games cost less right? You can also get PSN vouchers for less than face value right?

You bring up the $10 price hike. That tells me more about your annual income. I remember n64 games cost more. Then games went cheaper and after 2 decades they went up in price a little bit.

[shinoff2183]

Ocelot, seemed pretty coherent to me.

[purple101]

Spiderman 2. £62.99

https://hmv.com/store/gamin...

And il buy it 2 weeks later for 50. But yeh

(Il also sell that for £30. So only pay £20 total, to play it.) Plus a friend will benefit from cheaper price in the process)

[StarkR3ality]

I mean, yeah there's ways round the £70 price tag, I primarily play on PC so the most I see games at really is like £50 via cdkeys etc, but the RRP is £70, if you go to a store or buy it online you're paying that with nearly any games, but Sony gets the "credit" as they were the first ones to introduce the ridiculous new price tag.

[GamingSinceForever]

I was with you until you mentioned the “ridiculous new price hike”. That’s tells me a whole lot about your annual income. It’s just $10, and considering how much everything else has increased in price, it’s not ridiculous at all.

[StarkR3ality]

It is when said companies are making record profits and still nickel and dining players with microtransactions, but that's a different conversation I'll leave here thanks.

My annual income is fine pal, recently built a 4070ti rig so yeah, I'm doing fine thanks.

[GamingSinceForever]

Don’t get all defensive now it was your words not mine or anyone else’s. 😂

[niiopi]

And you're surprised I called you a fanboy.. you literally wrote "nener nener" 🤦‍♂️

[StarkR3ality]

Dude I don't even an own an Xbox you tool.

[mrcatastropheAF]

@ocelot

"If Microsoft are happy putting there games on gamepass then I'll get gamepass at the cheapest possible price"

And now the cheapest price is no longer $1 so stop coping in the N4G comment section and pay the piper if you actually want to play the game without dropping $70.

Otherwise, use the same strategy you say you use for PS5 games and wait for the disc to get cheaper.

I dont get all the whining

[ocelot07]

I'm not whining. I would of liked the £1 promotion. But now the next best option is roughly £6 for a month of ultimate. That I can digest. Sod playing £10.99 for it.

[shinoff2183]

I already paid for gamepass full price so my perspective isn't about that. It's the timing. Then went this whole Gen without a true aaa game(guess you could say halo infinite) and now that one's here. Change

[goldwyncq]

Now watch as people who have no problem paying for $70 dollar games try to spin it as a greedy move.

[StarkR3ality]

Facts.

[jjb1981]

I can't blame them really because they are not making money on $1 subs. There are people out there that will take this as a 14-day challenge and brag about how they beat it for a buck. If you really like the value that GP offers, then support it. I don't do Game Pass anymore but for those that do, $10 for playing Starfield and beating it in a month is a heck of a deal.

[IRetrouk]

Why wouldn't they? People will sign up to play starfield, why give access for less than you know you can ask for? It's a business not a charity.

[TriniOutsider]

I find it funny, that people could legit defend game rental services like gamepass these days.

[wiz7191]

It’s amazing how cheap ppl are and how ppl complain when they can’t screw somebody over lol if y’all wast trying to scam all the time maybe they would still have this option or even better the whole month trials …

[Kyizen]

These xbots defending a billion dollar company making a scummy move to make more money is kinda crazy.