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Those wanting to play Xbox games may no longer have to actually buy an Xbox to do it – at least not in the traditional sense. Microsoft is taking its Xbox Live and Netflix-like Xbox Game Pass subscription to their logical conclusions with Xbox All Access, a mobile phone-style payment plan that includes both subscriptions and an Xbox.
The deal had been rumoured for a while but was accidentally revealed when the Xbox Wire posted (and then promptly removed) a post officially announcing the subscription before Microsoft eventually confirmed the news as part of its Gamescom in Cologne.
Related: Microsoft Xbox One X review: Elegantly expensive
The All Access deal costs $22 (£17) a month for both subscriptions and an Xbox One S, or $35 (£27) a month for both subscriptions and an Xbox One X. In both cases, if you keep the subscription up for 24 months, you get to keep the Xbox because you've paid it off – much like an on-contract smartphone.
But there's a catch – well, several actually. First, UK gamers can forget it currently as this scheme is strictly US-only for now. Second, it's only available from Microsoft stores direct – and "while stocks last", which means this may actually be a very short-term promotion indeed. We can only hope this becomes a more accessible offer.
But if it does, how do the maths actually work out? Well, Xbox Games Pass costs $10 per month in the US for its access to more than 100 games, while Xbox Live Gold can be had for $60 per year if you buy it a year at a time. The result is that the cost of these services account for $360 of the total cost of the $528 two-year Xbox One S plan and the $840 two-year Xbox One X plan.
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That brings the ultimate cost of the Xbox One S down to a mere $168, nearly half the price of the $300 Xbox One S bundles that Microsoft currently sells in the US (although those also come with games and trial subscriptions to these same services). It also works out to a $480 Xbox One X, which is a fairly modest improvement on Microsoft's $500 bundles, especially considering the pack-in games and trials that would come with that package.
The tighter margin also calls a bit more attention to the fact that if you buy an Xbox and don't subscribe to either the Games Pass or Xbox Live Gold (or one without the other), it's going to be much cheaper in either case – and the Xbox Game Pass really only makes sense if you play through games at a pretty swift clip.
In the UK, Xbox Games Pass is £7.99 a month and Xbox Live Gold is £39.99 for 12 months, with both services adding up to £272 over two years. If the deal came to the UK with a straight conversion (unlikely, we know), it would make it £136 for an Xbox One S and £376 for an Xbox One X.
While Xbox Wire hasn't republished the promotion announcement (yet), at the time of this writing the information is still live on Microsoft's online store. Quite what UK gamers have to do to get such a sweet deal, we shall wait and see.
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