Last week, Xbox announced that it will start its Preview Beta version of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and as of now the subscription service has been made available to all Xbox Insiders.
It’s been a few weeks now since Xbox first officially announced the Game Pass Ultimate program, which combines the features of both Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass into one simplified subscription plan. Xbox Live Gold is Xbox’s online subscription service, which basically allows Xbox users to play online with other Xbox users. The Xbox Game Pass, on the other hand, is a collection of over one hundred games, all available to download for free after you signed up for the monthly subscription plan.
Speaking through the Xbox Wire, Microsoft has rolled out information regarding this build of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, as well as what Insiders can expect from it.
For starters, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is currently available only to English-speaking Xbox Insiders located in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. It has three builds currently up for testing – Preview Alpha, Preview Alpha – Skip Ahead, and Preview Beta.
Insiders who choose to upgrade to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will see changes made to their Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. The remaining time on these, if you opt into the Game Pass Ultimate service, will be converted at a ‘one to one’ ratio each, based on the days remaining for either service. The maximum time you can obtain from the service is up to 36 months only, so be sure to check first if opting in is worth it. For example, if you have a year left of Xbox Live Gold time remaining, plus a year of Xbox Game Pass remaining, you will end up with 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate once you upgrade.
Tokens you earned in Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass will be temporarily available, as Microsoft is still testing out the features and ironing the kinks for Game Pass Ultimate. It is a good idea to redeem those tokens before opting into the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service.
You can learn more about the preview builds for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate here.
