Many have been expecting this to happen for a while, and there were even rumors about Microsoft introducing such a service, but now, it’s official. Today during Inside Xbox, Microsoft announced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a new service that mixes together Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass together for $15 a month (which is far cheaper than it would be if you had to get them both separately).
The service will be introduced later this year, Microsoft confirmed, but we didn’t get much more by way of details. We did get told that if you already have a prepaid subscription for either service, an upgrade path to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will be made available as well. Xbox Insiders may also get the chance to test drive the service before it’s made available to everyone.
With this, it’s clear that Microsoft is truly pushing Game Pass as its future (the hint is in the name of this service: it’s Game Pass Ultimate, not Xbox Live Ultimate). Given how awesome the lineup for it is becoming, I think it’s good for them to emphasize it as their killer app.