A new report states that Microsoft may be preparing to bundle Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass into a single subscription service. Microsoft has been taking some major moves with its gaming side in recent months, with helping bring games like Cuphead to Nintendo Switch being the latest example of this. As Microsoft prepares to spread the Xbox brand across to multiple pieces of hardware through its xCloud service, there have been plenty of rumors that flesh out some grandiose plans for the company.
One of these reports claims that Microsoft's games subscription service for Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, will be coming to Nintendo Switch. Others have gone so far as to state that major titles like Halo may be ported to Nintendo's current platform in the near future, but all of this is still up in the air. Even then, rumblings of a more complete and progressive consumer ecosystem from Xbox are more prevalent than ever.
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A new report from known tipster h0x0d on Twitter states that Microsoft is planning to release a subscription service that rolls both Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass into a single subscription. Allegedly dubbed 'Xbox Game Pass Ultimate', this service would provide access to both subscription services for $14.99 USD per month; with a special price for Xbox Insiders equating to $1 USD per month until service officially releases to a broader consumer base.
Not content on letting the report end there, another known industry insider on ResetEra, ZhugeEX, added some depth to the report. As it turns out, this may not be the only subscription service that Microsoft is working on. According to ZhugeEX, "... MS wants to make subscription services more important moving forward. So a lot of the new things coming from MS will be tied to subscriptions." This makes sense given that Xbox is said to be keen on bringing Xbox Game Pass to other platforms, but it also ties in well to Microsoft's known plans for a 'Netflix for games' service which would involve its xCloud project – and potentially even tieing that service into Xbox Game Pass.
For now, it's clear that Microsoft has thought out its next moves well and will continue to push the Xbox brand to unique places as a result. For now, however, this report can remain another rumor to add to a growing pile of reports stemming from Microsoft and Xbox.