Key Takeaways
- The $1 Game Pass deal has returned for Black Friday 2024, but only for the PC tier of the service.
- Microsoft last pulled this offer back in mid-October 2024, ahead of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s release.
- This time around, the promo returned in between major day-one Xbox Game Pass releases, including STALKER 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Microsoft has once again started offering the $1 PC Game Pass deal. The timing of the promo’s return goes against some of the company’s previously established Xbox Game Pass practices.
The $1 deal on Microsoft’s subscription service has been on and off for a while now. In the past, this attractive Xbox Game Pass promo would most often get pulled ahead of major day-one releases. This most recently happened in mid-October 2024, when Microsoft removed it just over a week before Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was added to the XGP content catalog.
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Six weeks later, the $1 Xbox Game Pass deal has now returned once more. The catch with this latest iteration of the offer is that it’s only available for PC Game Pass, whereas the Core, Standard, and Ultimate tiers are all currently still retailing at full prices. Although the $1 Xbox Game Pass deal was previously a month long, Microsoft shortened it to two weeks in August 2024. Unsurprisingly, this reduced version of the promo is what’s presently being offered to PC gamers, whereas its month-long counterpart isn’t looking likely to return anytime soon—if ever.
Once the trial period ends, the service will automatically renew every month. Following its first-ever price hike in summer 2024, PC Game Pass is currently priced at $11.99 per month. Users looking to take advantage of this offer without committing to a full-priced subscription can sign up for the service and cancel immediately, but opt to continue using it during the two-week trial period rather than receiving a refund for their dollar.
$1 PC Game Pass Deal Has Returned at a Great Time
While not as generous as it once was, this deal has still returned at an excellent and somewhat unsurprising time. Xbox Game Pass has just received two major day-one releases in the form of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and is about to get one more on December 9, when Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is scheduled to arrive. Offering the $1 trial between such high-profile game launches deviates from Microsoft’s usual practice of reserving the deal for quieter periods in its subscription service’s release schedule.
According to Game Rant’s testing, the $1 Xbox Game Pass trial is available in both North America and Europe, but limited to new users. “New” doesn’t necessarily mean those who have had a membership, but merely people who were away for a while. Historically, users became eligible for the $1 Xbox Game Pass deals after a one-year break from having a subscription. According to Microsoft’s Xbox Subscriptions Terms and Conditions pages, the actual time may vary depending on region and user.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft’s flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.