Confused by difference between X box gold and ultimate

Posted 17th Aug 2023

Been playing loads of Xbox, but games already downloaded. Decided to see what is available on game pass but everything seems to require ultimate now. They're really pushing for gaming too.
I have 'Gold' subscription which used to allow playing games from game pass. Now I can't find anything except the blackmail to upgrade to ultimate to play anything. Used to be ultimate was for three or four top games per month and a few perks. Am I missing something on the new 'upgraded' Xbox interface? Or do I have to get ultimate to play anything from game pass now?
Can someone please advise me?

Thanks.
Here's my subscription page

13 Comments

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17th Aug
Pretty sure Gold didn't give you any Game pass games - it just unlocked on-line play and the free crappy monthly games

Gold is no-more as of september - but will allow you to play a selection of free games that will rotate

news.xbox.com/en-…re/ (edited)
Author
17th Aug
Ah no! Bloody annoying. X box used to be the good games console as far as value went, but now at £120 a year for ultimate it's gonna be expensive. Do you know if the £1 trial, updating to games pass trick still works? I've done it a few times, but as I play pubG mainly I haven't bothered.
17th Aug
What annoys me is the fact that every time I try to order physical stuff from their store they complain they only deliver to the UK - I am in Northern Ireland - yet when I try to apply for the family pass they tell me it's only available for users in Ireland - they do seem confused!
There also don't seem to be any plans to bring the family pass over to the UK... I don't really want the hassle of running VPNs.
18th Aug
Well, you don't need to run a VPN! The Family Pass was closed down this week, and there's no indication of if/when it'll be relaunched. (edited)
18th Aug
@Ringfinger Well, as I said, either at the time you were signed up for Game Pass (Console £8.99/mth, Ultimate £12.99/mth, or free trial); another account on the console was OR you got different behaviour to everyone else!

Next month, your Gold membership will become "Core" and rather than 2 games a month to claim, you'll get access to 25 Microsoft selected games on the Game Pass list.

Sticking to your account, I suggest you think of it as a shop failing to charge you for an item at the till, and you don't notice until you get home. The next time you visit, there's a sale and lots of good deals, but crucially, the mistake doesn't reoccur. Would you really complain you didn't get a 'freebie' this time, and so they're ripping you off? (edited)