We’ve been hearing rumors about this since last year, but it sounds like it’s coming together soon.
Codenamed Project Largo, Microsoft has been working towards the subscription service in recent months. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that both the Xbox One S and Xbox One X will be offered as a subscription, and that Microsoft is planning to offer its Xbox One X bundled with Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass for $34.99 per month over 24 months.
Customers will be able to pay around $22 per month and net themselves an Xbox One S, Xbox Live, and Xbox Game Pass for two years. Around $35 will net them an Xbox One X.
So in addition to the services, you’re renting a console? Seems a little odd.
No. It’s more like a phone payment plan. You pay in installments that come bundled with the sub services. At the end of the “contract” you own the hardware.
It’s an interesting idea, but a little expensive. I’d save more money if I bought an Xbox One X ($450 around sales times), and got Xbox Live for $40 each year as can be found sometimes, and only get Xbox Games Pass for when I’m not playing the games that I own.
At $35 a month, that’s $840.
I suppose if I couldn’t afford $450 all at once, $35 would look much better.
Looking at the other price, $22 a month is a better deal. That’s $528 total. $250 for the console, $80 for two years of Live, that means you’re getting two years of Game Pass for $198. Not bad.
It looks a lot better in ads too. There’s a reason Rent-a-Center still finds customers, $4000 TVs with $39 next to it. And fine print is for people who actually care what they’re signing up for, the type of people that don’t shop at Rent-a-Center anyway.
Just curious, what does Rent-a-Center do if you stop paying the monthly fee?
I suppose in Microsoft’s case, they can stop your Xbox Live and Game Pass, and ask you to return the console really politely?
I’d have to go to their website and look. I can imagine all sorts of things, like demanding immediate payment in full, then sending you to collections before suing you and ruining your credit… but now I’m curious too.
From their site:
What if I have to make a late payment?
Need a little help? No worries. If you ever need to make a late payment, simply contact the manager of your Rent-A-Center store as soon as possible - we’ll be happy to work with you!
What if I need to return an item or I can no longer make my payments?
Unforeseen things happen, and Rent-A-Center understands. At any time, you can return your product and simply freeze your payments. Then when you’re ready, you have the freedom to come back and get the same or comparable item, and pick up your payments right where you left off. Every payment you make at Rent-A-Center is fully protected.
I feel like I still don’t know.
They will repo that stuff. Wonder if this All Access plan will require a credit check. That’s usually the biggest barrier to these kinds of deals.
Looks like this is confirmed, according to Venture Beat -
Though they may have jumped the gun a bit since the link to the announcement on Xbox.com doesn’t appear to be live.
This is a great option for a lot of families. Xbox needs to get some games worth playing on Gamepass now. They have a couple great ones, but for $35/mo it should be the entire library.
This. Combined with XBOX Live’s service reliability (head and shoulders above the competition) Xbox could stomp the market. Add in 3 or 4 big name exclusives…hmmm…
PS should start to worry…
Seems like a decent deal, if you go by standard pricing.
$465 XboneX
$120 Xbox Live - 2 years
$240 Xbox Game Pass - 2 years
-------------------------------
$825
$34.99/month * 24 = $839.76
Of course there have been deals to buy a XboneX for as little as $367.99 and Xbox Live is regularly available for $48/year.
$368 Xbox One X
$096 Xbox Live - 2 years
$240 Xbox Game Pass - 2 years
----------------------------------
$704
Stuss, how does that stack up against Sony?
The long term math is comparable if you don’t factor sales. However, if you’re looking at this from a marketing perspective it’s brilliant.
Imagine you’re a working mom shopping for christmas for your kids
Console = $500.
NBA2k = $60
Call of Duty = $40
Xbox Live 1 month card= $10
Total: $610
Or! You can pay $35/mo and get all that (assuming MS gets more games onto Gamepass, which they have to do for this to succeed), and buy your kids those shoes they wanted and get something for your sister and have a great Christmas.
It’s the same philosophy as leasing a car. Yeah you don’t own it, but the monthly payment is way lower and you get a new car every 3 years. Leasing is very popular.
Playstation Now isn’t completely equivalent to Xbox Game Pass and the XboneX is much better hardware than the PS4 Pro, but here’s the comparison.
MSRP
$399 PS4 Pro
$120 PS Plus - 2 years
$200 PS Now - 2 years
----------------------------------
$719
Deals
$350 PS4 Pro
$100 PS Plus - 2 years
$200 PS Now - 2 years
----------------------------------
$650
Walla, I assume you own the XboneX at the end of the 24 month commitment. If you have to send it back, this is truly a terrible deal as opposed to a poor one.
As in most things, you’re better off buying up-front. If you don’t have the money, well, this is a new option.
It’s even better if you own the console at the end. But for people who don’t have 4 or 5 digit checking account balances like most of us on this forum, this is a great option.
No, if you don’t own the console at the end of your contract it’s nothing less than predatory.
When you lease a car, your total payout at the end of 2 years is far less than the value of the car, that’s why you have to either return it or pay them more to keep it.
Lease on a 2018 Toyota Corolla LE is $3k down, $149/month, 36 months. That’s $8,364. MSRP on a 2018 Toyota Corolla LE starts at $19,035.
The VentureBeat link says this is not a lease, and works a lot like current phone plans, as @Telefrog mentioned also.
That article also says “But unlike those phone plans, Xbox All Access is actually less expensive than purchasing an Xbox One outright and then subscribing to Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass for two years.”, which implies to me that they didn’t bother to do four minutes of research. It is, in fact, almost exactly the same price as buying all those things at MSRP. That means Microsoft is essentially lending the user most of that amount at 0% interest, which ain’t bad. But it isn’t less expensive for the user.
