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Microsoft axes $1 Xbox Game Pass trial

Now you’ll have to pay the full subscription price to play Starfield.

Microsoft has r🐽emoved the option to sign up for a 14-day trial of🌼 Game Pass for $1. This comes just ahead of Starfield’s release on September 6.

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This was first reported by , and you can compare what the G💯ame Pass sign-up page looked like before and after🌃 the change thanks to a tweet by . There ♛used to be text in each subscription tier advertising 14 days for $1, and then full price afterwards. This text is now from the live page.

 

In the past, people were able to try Game Pass for a full month for the low cost of $1. This allowed people to sign up, play whatever was in the library for a month, and then cancel their ser🦩vice before paying the fu𝕴ll subscription fee. Perhaps to curb this practice, Microsoft removed the $1 month-long trial in before reinstating it in Juဣly this year. However, after about a month, the month-long tria💧l period was reduced to just 14 days. Three weeks later, Microsoft has decided to reꦏmove the trial option altogether.

It looks like you can stil🌼l get a free 14-day trial through t🍨he . The pr🌺ogram allows current subscribers to gift fiveജ people each year with a free 14-day trial of PC Game Pass. So if you know someone who already has Game Pass, perhaps you can ask them for a code.

Is it because of Starfield?

Maybe. Without a statement from Microsoft, we can only speculate as to why they are making this change. The timing certainly lines up with the☂ highly-anticipated release of Starfield, so this seems to be the prevailing🦩🎃 theory for now.

If you already have a Game Pass subscription, then this won’t affect you. The change only affects would-be new subscribers who planned to take advantage of the $1 offer to play Starfield on release day.

The full price for a month of PC Game Pass is $10, or $17 for the Ultimate tier. Subscribers can play Starfield when it launches on September 6 fo✅r PC and Xbox Series X|S. Those with the Premium Edition of the game can access the game five days earl꧙y.


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Christine Choi
Contributing Writer - Christine has been gaming since she first stole her brother's Game Boy as a kid. She's come a long way since then and has been creating content for Genshin Impact since 2021.