The jig's up - Microsoft knows what you lot were scheming. About two weeks before Starfield's release, the two-week Xbox Game Pass trial has been taken down, making it impossible to play Bethesda's next big RPG for just one dollar.

This isn't the first time Xbox has taken the Game Pass deal down, but its timing strongly suggests that the company wants to make the most out of anyone playing Starfield through the service. Especially since this was noticed around two weeks before Starfield's launch, meaning anyone who just got the $1 deal would have to renew it for another month to play the game at all.

This development was spotted by Twitter user @Wario64, who shared the news that anyone planning to play Starfield for $1 will have to look elsewhere.

Microsoft keeps going back and forth on the $1 trial, as it was once much more stable - and more generous. New subscribers in late 2020 got a whooping three months for $1, later changed to a permanent deal of one month for the same price. It then scrapped this deal altogether earlier this year. It was later brought back, but changed to 14 days for $1 instead, making it less generous and not giving players as much of a chance to try out the library before the full price was taken from their accounts.

Microsoft has apparently eliminated the $1 Xbox Game Pass trial once again, just before the release of Starfield https://t.co/8tUcvdYHX3https://t.co/nnok972zbU

Pictured: today vs earlier this month pic.twitter.com/GpDDl3jz4l

— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 27, 2023

Now, even the 14-day deal is nowhere to be seen. Given Microsoft's previous behaviour, we can expect it to return later down the line, perhaps after the Starfield hype has brought in more subscribers. After all, Xbox has gone all in on its subscription service and has previously faced criticism for not adding enough big games. Now that it has one on its hands, it will certainly be trying to make the most of it.

This is far from the only recent change to Game Pass. Microsoft recently scrapped Xbox Live, along with its accompanying Games With Gold collection. It's being replaced by a new "Core" Game Pass tier, giving you online play, but just 25 games to choose from. The middle tiers, PC and Console, have the full library, but not online play. Anyone who wants both will have to pay for Game Pass Ultimate.

It remains to be seen if Xbox offers any new incentives for newbies to join Game Pass. However, it could be that it feels that Starfield is incentive enough on its own. You can download the latest Starfield Trainers and cheats from WeMod.



Posted: Aug 31, 2023 8:30 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/xbox-game-pass-one-dollar-deal-gone-taken-down-starfield/