Xbox All Access' is a new subscription service with Xbox Live, Game Pass, and a console (updated)

Xbox Game Pass (Image credit: Matt Brown | Windows Central)

We've heard Microsoft is soon planning to debut a new contract-based monthly subscription service dubbed "Xbox All Access," offering the cheapest way to get an Xbox console, Xbox Live, and Xbox Game Pass.

Update August 27, 2018: Microsoft has officially announced Xbox All Access, confirming our previous information listed below.

Details: How Xbox All Access works

As always, plans can (and do) change, but if what we've heard is accurate, Microsoft is looking to unveil its new "Xbox All Access" service later this month. If you're wondering why it wasn't announced at Gamescom 2018 in Germany, it's because it's looking like it's US-only. The service was originally teased by The Verge's Tom Warren on Twitter, we've since confirmed some more of the details with our own sources.

Customers will be able to pay $21.99 per month and net themselves an Xbox One S, Xbox Live, and Xbox Game Pass for two years. $34.99 will net them an Xbox One X.

Xbox All Access should help you split the cost of an Xbox One X. (Image credit: Matt Brown / Windows Central)

Paying upfront, an Xbox One S costs around $230 on the Microsoft Store with a free game. Xbox Live currently costs $59.99 on the Microsoft Store for a year, with Xbox Game Pass costing $9.99 per month. You can often get Xbox Live cards cheaper through Amazon, or other associated deals, but at the retail price, Xbox All Access should work out a little cheaper over time than paying for all of these services outright. After the two year contract period has been fully paid, users will own their consoles as expected. Xbox All Access will be powered by Dell's Preferred Account system, similar to financing options available for Surface devices.

If accurate, Xbox All Access will debut for US customers in the near future, through the Microsoft Store and possibly other retailers. It could be the easiest, cheapest way yet to access the Xbox One family, spreading the cost out over two years, while also guaranteeing developers a boost in long-term Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, guaranteeing a larger player base on the service. Microsoft is pursuing Xbox Game Pass aggressively, supporting the service with an all-new app for mobile devices, while cutting various deals with big-name third-party titles. Xbox All Access seems like it'd be the logical next step.

Everything you need to know about Xbox Game Pass

Jez Corden

Jez Corden is a Senior Editor for Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

95 Comments

Stopped reading at "US Only"
Want a tissue?
Yeah, take a hike. We come first
OK, Ramon. Enjoy pls
Hiking is healthy btw.
Why don't you crawl back into your hole with you BS US only attitude Ramon.
Microsoft might want one, since they aren't getting any cash from us.
The funny thing is that MS will continue to focus on the US market, their fanboys will continue to defend them.
There is no logic with fanboys, it's always damage control no matter what. Isn't it better if they are ALSO popular in other parts of the world? I don't understand what's going on in the head of these people.
They are an American Company with the majority of their userbase in the US. The rules in other countries are far more complex and may even have restrictions on allowing such a service. Not hard to understand
I don't know about "majority of userbase in the US"
Newsflash: The UK is a simpler country in most areas than America. We have a single rate of sales tax, for example.
Sony and Nintendo do the same. Both companies release Japan-only hardware, software and services. This is perfectly normal, and will not change until we eliminate the antiquated notion of countries. At least Microsoft and Nintendo allow cross-platform play. Sony is afraid of cooperation.
I had to register for this site...only so that i could acknowledge the crazy level of fanboy in you....this comment is wild "until we eliminate the antiquated notion of countries" Rofl.....regional interests
Come on... Some who recognizes that Jesus was black shouldn't have trouble with radical ideas like countries being antiquated - that Jesus is back is true but still radical and contentious. Personally, I'm largely apathetic to this issue of countries right now, so no, I'm not a New World Order conspirist but I do believe the world should work together better. Also, as for regional interests, there's states for that. Especially in the US where states can be so vastly different from one another in laws. :)
Of course it's US only.
Only Americans are stupid enough to fall for such a terrible deal, just like they fall for carrier contracts ahahahahah (I'm not answering to anyone here. For some reason the app is showing my comment amidst a sea of replies to the first post...so if you see this as a reply, know it's an app bug)
You're a moron and a xenophobe.
Dude, how retarded are you? Wait lemme guess, very because if you managed to factor in the cost for the X subscription it's a clean 24 month payment cycle equalling the exact same amount. The S is definitely where they'll make their money, but don't call a country stupid because they're trying to make their console more attainable for a family who can't just drop a couple hundred for all this at once. Do everyone a favor and drink some bleach, k thanks.
Only an idiot would b stupid enough to pay outright for something they could drip feed the money for. Hey look, I can make gross generalisations too!
No thanks. If getting this by living in the US, that would mean I'd have to take your muppet president as well and all your stupid gun laws.
Such an American response
It's a US company. You have to start somewhere. If the program is successful, I'm sure it'll be open to more countries. There are legal hurdles to overcome when releasing stuff in other countries.
Companys start with US only because new ideas aren't certain to succeed. It costs companies to get licenses to ship to other countries. If they began shipping world wide and a product or service fails to meet expectation, they will lose money.
Well this isn't a hardware product but I do understand what you're saying. Still, it seems many other companies (like Google, Apple) are able to expand outside the US much faster than MS.
Console games for example, has local dealers and retailers, they can be the obstacle.
e.g. Uber and Taxi companies?
Phone store app and games don't have local retailers / traditional industry, those can be pushed WW in second.
Also depends on various factors. Who struck the deal 1st == exclusiveness, MS is behind many things (business solutions, dev solutions, middleware, PC, machines, servers, gov projects), I'm sure they will be concerns. And... tbh... any IT firm, product or services that want to succeed globally, need to succeed in US. Both Switch and PS4 took US pretty seriously, more serious than Japan (cause console market in Japan shrank YOY).
Line succeeded in Japan (even MS released a chat bot called りんな on it), Taiwan and... is it Thailand or Vietnam? WhatsApp dominates everywhere else. BUT, like others have said, this is just temporary. It will be available in other countries sooner or later. Xbox, XBL and GamePass isn't US only product / services. This is りんな's first song : https://youtu.be/FYBrF2JTlKs
Collaboration wz her followers : https://youtu.be/pIw8L2uctK4
Result from deep learning.
Quit your whining. Microsoft is a U.S. company. Of COURSE, they're going to release products to the U.S. only... Don't like it? TOUGH!
This isn't a product though, it's a service. It's also a service that is very similar to the multitude of services already available around the World that the US doesn't have. Seriously, US payment options for purchases are antiquated as Hell.
Oddly enough, it is cheaper doing this than paying for all those up front at current retail costs. It'll be interesting to see how well this sells.
I would go for it in a heartbeat. It's much easier to pay a small amount each month for me.
2 years later, you can continue your contract with the NEXT Xbox. And the XBL and GamePass can work on your older Xbox too. Cross-gen-play, multi-boot single copy is allowed.
The key here is that you're talking of maximum retail price. There are always deals for the console, gold or even game pass. This also means that you keep playing even if you're not playing for some time.
I'm in for a one X. Sign me up.
Agreed
I just wish there will be a subscription which covers Gold and Gamepass. I hate paying for both separately. Something like $70 covering both for a year will be cool 😎
If Xbox Live is $60 a year, and Game Pass $120 a year ($10 a month), totalling $180 a year, why would they ever do a $70 bundle?
Because everyone wants everything for nothing.
This makes a lot of sense for people who want all 3 anyway. Saves about $60 over those two years, assuming the full price of Gold which most people don't pay, plus spreads out the cost which helps people who don't want to drop the heavier price out front. Not relevant to me (not in US, don't really want Game Pass, don't have a 4K TV so no point of getting an S or X), but I can see how this would be a win for a lot of people.
US only, bah. Lesson not learned, yet.
what do you refer by "lesson not learned"?
The debacle of the Zune?
It's US-only cus it requires the contracts to be served via a Microsoft retail store or partner, I believe. So its availability probably won't be that widespread.
They could easily allow other retailers to get customers to sign the contracts, it's literally how Mobile Phone companies work. There is absolutely no reason why any retailer that sells Xbox consoles couldn't provide this service it's just Microsoft being Microsoft.
Could've transitioned the Nokia Care Points into Microsoft Kiosks and Stores as well...
So GAME couldn't be a partner? Or Currys PCWorld? ;-)
That's nice piece of BS excuse for Microsoft there.
This actually looks very interesting if true!!
It's a decent idea, if it drops in the UK I see a lot of people adopting it
Now if you take into consideration that you can often find Live for around $45 consistently, then the one X deal, would net you around $10 more than buying them all separately.
I guess the question is how do they enforce it? Your local rent-to-own scam will just come take their stuff back if you don't pay them. My guess is, they'll require either a credit card or a bank account, which would probably eliminate a huge portion of the audience they're (presumably) looking to sell this to. It's a good idea, and I'm always for anything that lets the economically disadvantaged feel like human beings. Being broke sucks as much emotionally as it does economically, and just being able to have something nice that isn't a crappy version, is a huge breath of air in a situation that all too often doesn't allow for it.
It is likely they will cater this to those with very good credit history. I cant imagine them allowing this for the general public ; they have to lessen their risk.
Yes, it would be set up as a direct debit from a bank account or credit card, if you default on your payments you will receive fees.
If you're that broke, you shouldn't be spending money on games and toys in the first place.
Your comment is invalid. you seem to forget the success of mobile phone plans
Nowadays, anyone (bad credit or good) can have a bank account. Banks that open accounts for people with bad credit just love when they overdraft them. So, I don't think that those with bad credit will be eliminated from this deal.
Let's see....I already have the original Xbox One. I bought an Xbox One X on the cheap when Toys R Us was going out of business (RIP Jeffery). I guess an Xbox One S is possible. Complete the trifecta.
i like this guy
Geoffrey is still alive and well in Canada
There are a fair few retailers in the UK here that may jump on this. Hopefully anyway... Though I wonder what happens if you cancel your subscription...? Does Phil come round and rip your console from your arms in an overly polite manner? Or do they just brick your console remotely?
That's what i wonder, but even so, think of the allure of getting an Xbox 1 s for single player games only for a single payment. Someome that can't make a payment will certainly disconnect it from online access before they miss the payment, so bricking it is less likely than blocking it from XBL for eternity (of course, both possibly, but it would have to be connected online. People will figure out how to play single players games, i promise).
You've never owned a mobile phone I assume. Because this is a dumb question. If you stop paying you will get a bill for the contract break fee. if you don't pay it it will be passed to debt collection. This is THE defacto method for anything like this
In many countries, mobile phone contracts are either uncommon or unheard of
You can't cancel it until you paid off the console is what I'd wager. If you want to cancel before that time you'll have to pay off that portion. Exactly how a phone contract works.
We already do this with phones all the time, I don't see why it should be that difficult to accomplish
This, in the UK, would be great!
I'm sure that MSFT is working with other non-US based markets behind the scenes as we speak to bring this to fruition everywhere. Just hold tight.
Wow, i expected way less of a decent value, but that os only a couple dollars difference, while allowing you to pay it out over 2 years. I'm not sure how they plan on stopping people from getting the console & not paying the rest. Maybe blocking it from accessing XBL forever, but they could still play single player games for the 1st payment of $22, unless there's some way to guarantee people pay it all. If just a credit check, that would be stupid to pay this amount when you could get a credit card with rewards & pay much less for Game pass & XBL subs online (I've never paid more than $35 over the 10 years I've subbed, just from finding deals online from cheapassgamer dot com listing all the best deals from retailers & trading/buying subs from other CAG's on their trading forums). Options are always good & this would be another option for gamers wanting an X1. Most gamers I know with only 1 console have a ps4, so this would be a great method to allow them to get an X1. However, I'm not sure how it will work if people don't make a payment or something. Refurbished consoles will probably be the answer. If they are sending out refurbs, then it's not as big a blow as if they lose sales on a new console when people don't pay. This way they are getting new price for consoles they'd get much less or nothing for, otherwise. I guess we'll see.
It's just like every other contract you sign in life for smaller items like a cell phone. If you fail to make payments, you get passed on to debt collection agencies. If you still don't pay you ruin your credit. That's no big deal if you are a trash human being and are going no where in life and hey you get to keep the console. But if your going to rent an apartment in the future, apply for a loan, or credit card they will see the mark on your credit and you won't get whatever you're applying for. Not worth ruining your credit over a $500 xbox.
All truth but as I read your comments, I couldn't help but imagine a drooling, basement dwelling, nerd with horrible credit, rubbing their hands together. lol.
They may make it auto-payment only required to sign up for the subscription and require that if someone tries to have their banking institution "stop payment," the full amount may be pulled out, possibly causing an overdraft.
The One X isn't about your TV resolution, but power. It is faster than the original, smaller, and supports 4k video if you care (I don't. ) But most importantly, it uses less than half the electricity of a first generation Xbone, saving you money.
I own multiple Xbox X's and an S but (and Im being honest here) what I found was that the Xbox X takes longer to startup than the S and tends to delay input responses more often than the S. I've even sent them in for repair and they've both come back doing the same thing. Not sure why but theyre definitely laggier.
Ya I HIGHLY doubt the one x uses less electricity
>.< US Only... I hope it's only US as a pilot scheme and upon success it is rolled out to other countries.
Rent to own model is popular in UK and Australia. Pretty sure it's the default model for purchase of mobile/high-end electronics in a bunch of countries.
I would definitely get the Xbox one x if this is true.
What about the people who already got the Xbox one X?
Then we're already at the top of the mountain.
A game pass/live gold/Xcloud (or whatever they call the streaming service) combo subscription would be my bet.
We need to stop saying "What about me?" whenever some new offer becomes available. You've spent your money on whatever deal was available at the time or not and purchased the item you wanted. Move on. Deals come and go an benefit the consumer of that time. If we miss out, we miss out. The only other option is to just not purchase anything, waiting for the PERFECT deal. But that's not realistic. This deal is mainly to attract new gamers and to push their gamespass subscription. Be happy for those who will take advantage of it. I for one already own multiple Xbox X's but with this deal, I will sign up my nephews to each have their own as well. See? The deal is already working.
Let's do math:
Xbox live 120/2yr
Game pass/240/2yr
Xbox one X/500
Total $860 All Access 35x24 months is $840... Yeahhh..... "Huge savings". Worse if you grab the console for $450! Or Xbox One S is 250-ish
Total $610 All Access 22x24 is $528
Taking into consideration full retail prices. I've never paid full price for live and I buy games on sales/specials or play games with gold... Still cheaper the regular way. Game pass isn't majorly beneficial
The thing is that most people who choose to finance the whole thing are only focused on the small $22 - $35 each month to be able to have FULL access to the Xbox One(s)(X) platform, XBL, and GamePass Library. They can get it all now and for only $22-$35 each month. People who have loads of money usually don't need to finance. Financing is rarely about how much more you can save over time due to finance charges in most cases. Its about immediately gaining access to something you cannot afford to pay for outright. Also, financing usually ends up costing more over time than the total outright purchase (financing charges). This subscription however, would actually SAVE customers money in the long term over an outright purchase (albeit a small savings overall). Still, its a savings. It seems as the best of both worlds.
Its really simple, paying $35 a month is significantly easier than paying $860 up front. Let's say you take home $1000 a week (which is a pretty significant figure, well above average) after tax. That is still almost your entire weeks wage, so if you pay your rent weekly, bills, groceries, etc you can't do that for that week. You could obviously save a bit each week until you had the full amount and then it's all good, you might even get tuff a bit cheaper as well by shopping around but then you aren't getting the product now, you have to wait. But the convenience for a vast majority of people to not have to worry about a huge initial outlay is significant. It is literally why "interest free periods" on credit cards are so popular.
This is a great idea that I'm certain will drive subscriptions out the roof and attract many non-Xbox gamers to the platform. As for it being US only, my money says that this would only be temporary. Just because we haven't already gotten details of non-US markets projected to offer this subscription doesn't mean that MSFT isn't already working behind the scenes with those markets to get it done sometime in the future. Each market is different (we need to remember that) and each market may have their own legal loopholes to be dealt with before offering such a subscription based program. So, lets not poop the bed just because a particular market has not yet been named.
Will a credit check be needed?
I would assume yes, generally they are required for situations like this.
Well, as it is a US based company, it makes sense that it "starts" there. I highly doubt though, given that Xbox One X and their games and Game Pass and Live are available in other countries that this will "remain" US only for very long. Personally, though, I can't see myself financing a console. I'd rather buy it outright then get with the services. But that's me. And I pay a bit more as I'm Canadian. *goes off to drink some maple syrup and worship a beaver or two*
2 years later, you can continue your contract with the NEXT Xbox. And the XBL and GamePass can work on your older Xbox too. Cross-gen-play, multi-boot single copy is allowed. That one more benefit I can think of...
And you can have 1 console in the living room, another one in the bed room (or like me, bring it to the office). If you have 2 kids... ask'em to take turn.
Really great information. Looking forward to more great information. Steam store now available at steamcarddelivery.com is trusted 5 star services.
Since it's a "Financing" plan, not a "Subscription" plan I guess it will not extend the hardware warranty time beyond the current 1 year? If it extended the warranty for the full 2 years, then it would be a good deal.
I like this model. I'd do this, since I already pay for Game Pass even though I'm on PC. But you know, US only, so they can't get my money for this.
Hopeful that it comes to the uk soon. I'll take my 3rd X out on contract day one
I wonder if those of us who already own a console will be able to buy a subscription that includes Gold and Game Pass at a reduced cost in the future.
Please announce the September lineup of game pass games. Don't wait till the last minute & announce them four days after September is already here. Like you did at the beginning of August. & When are you gonna announce the games with gold
Xbox is useless in the first place. Every game on xbox is available on a pc with 10x better performance. Not to mention you need to update your console every 2 years because they cant get it right the first time. Playstation FTW!!
PC has its own problems.
Unique, weird issues every now and then? Custom build PC vs branded PC vs consoles, the more customizable the? More issues? Lesser issue?
Why fans of different card maker bashing each other which $500 card has more issues? They all have to score a 100 on their QA test right?
Why my brother has to boot his rig twice to get to desktop?
I can certainly diagnose HW failure myself but OEM should take care of driver and OS update (the reason I choose Alienware or Surface brand. No lousy brand for me). While you are dealing with issues from driver and windows updates (or maybe from dodgy user-installed-background-services), I'm spending my time experimenting with active ragdoll and procedural animation controllers, investing myself.
Where's Instant-ON? Remote install while PC's asleep?
* shader issues are normally HW and driver bound. With consoles.
The OS/HW provider, devs and users, everyone on the planet all use the very same OS + driver + SW + background services combination. It's easier for devs and MS to debug and replicate an user's issue don't you think? PS FTW?
Where's Win10 + UWP equivalent?
Without Win10 + UWP, where's BC, FC, XPA and even GamePass?
Where's free, unlimited storage cross-platform cloud sync?
Cross-save? Cross-play? Cross-gen-play? Freesync and many other features?
Any word on peripheral FC? Sony's HW company right? Wouldn't they prefer to sell you more HWs? btw, PC and console market don't really blend. Otherwise, the console version of FIFA, GTA, COD, BF, Witcher, Fallout won't sell.

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