Rumours have abounded for weeks that Microsoft’s big announcement at Gamescom 2018 would be Xbox All Access. A new subscription service that would combine Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live.
Sadly, it never panned out.
At the beginning of August, Tom Warren of the Verge posted this suggestive tweet. Then last week, the awesome peeps at Windows Central reported they had confirmed that indeed Xbox All Access is planned and would be announced at the end of the month.
Venture beat just reported that a blog post appeared on Xbox Wire confirming the announcement. The said blog post which has been since removed is a strong indication that an announcement is very real and to be expected soon.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Update: Microsoft has officially announced Xbox All Access. Full details can be found on the official Xbox News page. [/perfectpullquote]
So what exactly is Xbox All Access?
Xbox All Access is rumoured to be a contract–based, subscription service that combines not only Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live but also an Xbox One console. All this for as little as US$22 a month for an Xbox One S and US$35 for One X. At the end of the two year contract period, gamers would keep the console.
Why hasn’t anyone done this before? For years, we’ve bought our phones on contracts that give us a phone, call time, SMS and data. It makes perfect sense to do the same with games consoles.
Greater than the sum of its parts
With an Xbox One X retailing at US$499, adding two twelve-month Game Pass and Live subscriptions for US$239.76 and US$119.98 respectively would cost a total of US$858.74.
In comparison, Xbox All Access would cost an accessible $35 a month. For 24 months that would come to US$840 — less than if you bought them separately. Putting it in perspective, that’s way cheaper than an iPhone X on contract.
The 4K gaming prowess of the Xbox One X, vast Game Pass library and frequent Live Deals with Gold make this a huge win for consumers.
By making this bundle so accessible to the masses, Microsoft will grow it’s customer base and ecosystem literally exponentially and potentially cannibalize Sony’s massive customer base.
We’ll be watching this one closely.
