MS unveils family XBL subscription

By Robert Purchese Published 23 June, 2010

Updated with European pricing.

Update: Microsoft has told Eurogamer that the Xbox Live Family Pack will cost £69.99 (€89.99).

Original story: Microsoft has unveiled an Xbox Live Family Pack that offers four Gold subscriptions for the price of two.

This will cost $99 in the US (presumably £80 in the UK) and is due out in November.

The platform holder is also launching the Family Center, a dashboard hub where you can tweak Family Settings and accounts.

Billing will be handled through the primary Family Pack account, and Microsoft Points can be purchased and dished out to the other three members accordingly.

There's also the promise of "exclusive family content and discounts", but no examples of how this might manifest.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Der_tolle_Emil #1 2 years ago

    Sounds like a good idea if you have kids and can't be bothered to always buy pre-paid cards or even assign your credit card with their accounts.

    Is there any information on whether you can "lock" the other accounts so that they can only get points from the primary account? Not that I have any kids but I think it's great that MS is trying to enable parents to have a bit of control over how the kids use the console.

  • GiarcYekrub #2 2 years ago

    Can existing silver accounts be linked to a family account? Do they have to be the primary account holder?

  • asphaltcowboy #3 2 years ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil I believe points can be locked to the primary account.

    This is a nice idea but I'd rather see a "console" membership scheme where you buy a membership for the whole console and then any gamertag on the system can utilise Gold. That way my gf might do some multiplayer gaming - there's no way she'd pay for a normal gold sub.

  • matrim83 #4 2 years ago

    Would it be possible for people/friends to just group up 4 accounts and buy this as a "family"? I mean AFAIK GTs arent locked to a console.

  • bad09 #5 2 years ago

    I've never really thought about this until recently as I'm moving in with the Mrs but am I the only one who finds it a little bit of a scam that every member of a household must pay to play on one console?

    Personally me and the Mrs are silver now anyway so it don't really matter but per console would seem fairer to me.

  • Geordiemp #6 2 years ago

    Well, my family decided the best way for a family LIVE membership was to get PS3, so we buy non-on-line games for 360 and for heavy online games we buy Ps3.

    Ther whole live, gamertag, gold only online and DRM is very confusing for the more casual.

    If MS want to dominate the world with Kinect the need to let silver subs access on-line games.

    So many users go on about X game chat, party invite etc, achievements and are hardcore gamers, BUT try standing back and thinking about yearly subscriptions for a group, if you had to pay what was over £ 100 per year, £ 80 is better, but still way too much.

    If gold was by house number or phone number / IP address, then maybe.
    Edited by Geordiemp at 23/06/10 @ 09:39

  • BigE0n #7 2 years ago

    Thing is most games allow you to take guest(s) anyway (Its just that they cant receive any achievements) so you can already all game on-line with just one Gold Membership

  • Gastrian #8 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Geordiemp #9 2 years ago

    mS just got it wrong here, imagine a new casual family MS trying to win over with Kinect.

    Buy a console, extra controller, a few games, a Kinect camera and the sales guy asks for £ 80 a year subs to connect it.

  • kangarootoo #10 2 years ago

    @bad09

    "that every member of a household must pay to play on one console"

    But they don't. They only have to pay if they each want a unique identity online. All members of the household can create their own accounts for local play, and all members can play online if they don't mind sharing an identity, AND all members can use DLC that is purchased by the one Gold account even if they are not logged into it.

  • bad09 #11 2 years ago

    @Gastrian

    True and I suppose there are pros and cons, but with the Wii, PS and even PC (which is also getting kinect) doing the same but for free MS will have a hard job convincing families to go for £80 just for all of them to play online.

  • kangarootoo #12 2 years ago

    @Gastrian

    I'm not sure that MS's family service should really have to take account for "families" breaking up or seperating. Just like if you buy family membership to London Zoo, they aren't really expected to cope frequently with the results of divorce. On the whole, those would be an edge cases.

  • Peew971 #13 2 years ago

    @Geordiemp

    As far as I know you can still use any console without Live and if families buy a 360 specifically for Kinect, most likely they won't care about online. Do you know many families that play there Wii online?

  • Alivada #14 2 years ago

    Thats actually pretty good, no use to me though.

  • PoundHound #15 2 years ago

    @Asphaltcowboy - Spot on. It's kinda frustrating that they've come up with this family membership, but it is so inflexible. There should be options for 2 profiles upwards.

    Another good idea poorly implemented.

  • metalangel #16 2 years ago

    because Mrs Metal's gamertag is only silver, she can't even join a party with me even if she wasn't going to join the game but just chat along.

  • Peew971 #17 2 years ago

    So let me get this straight... Live membership for one person is $50/£40, they announce that you can get 4 memberships for $100/£80 and people are still bitching. I guess what they say about gamers being whiners is true :/

  • kangarootoo #18 2 years ago

    "MS will have a hard job convincing families to go for £80 just for all of them to play online. "

    I agree with this. Most families will just share an account. I guess the issue (which I didn't think of earlier) is that for multiple members to play online on the same console at the samne time DOES require multiple Gold accounts, which does kind of suck. You at least be able to bring a guest, who won't earn achievements or anything, but can at least play so long as a Gold member is "escorting" them.

  • alan_stealth #19 2 years ago

    Providing that you can usethe 4 xbox live gold subscriptions all on one profile,
    (i.e. 4 years memebership for 1 profile) I too really have no idea what people are bitching about.

    Call it "family package", "family and friend package" or "chicken flavoured soup" I don't care,
    if I can have 4 years of live for 70 quid, I'm down for that.

  • bad09 #20 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    Yeah it sucks but at least on consoles you can have other users playing games!

    On Steam we have it worse on the issue of accounts, for instance my Mrs really liked L4D but to play it and earn achievements herself she would need to buy the whole game on a separate Steam account. Madness.

  • trevd72 #21 2 years ago

    it pisses me of off that my console will not allow anyone else to play online with their profile. my son has to wreck my stats to play online cos i refuse to pay twice and this is still paying twice. when it gets to be too much of a problem i will get a ps3

  • kangarootoo #22 2 years ago

    @alan_stealth

    "Providing that you can usethe 4 xbox live gold subscriptions all on one profile, (i.e. 4 years memebership for 1 profile) I too really have no idea what people are bitching about."

    I think you have misunderstoof the offer. Provided you COULD have what you've described, fair enough. That is almost certainly not what this offer would give you though.

    I expect that this offer will provide a package that discounts 4 Gold account that run concurrently, over a period of 12 months. Nothing about this has suggested that you are simply buying 48 months of Gold membership for a reduced rate.

  • Frandroid #23 2 years ago

    Any information on how this will play with existing Live accounts? Hoping I'll be able to update my son's account to make it linked to mine. The distribution of points and activity monitoring are welcome additions.

  • Gastrian #24 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • davisorle #25 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • Geordiemp #26 2 years ago

    Funny all the comments allot from users who have 1 gold account and 1 360 maybe.

    Try cranking up the numbers, and shelling out say over 3 years £ 300 plus just to play online when other systems give it for free is just laughable.

    That was my justification for Ps3, and now MS loose out every on-line game I now buy on PS3 and keep the 360 for stuff like Mass Effect 2, single player or games with system link.

    I am sure we are not the only family to take that view, MS loss.

  • kangarootoo #27 2 years ago

    @bad09

    "for instance my Mrs really liked L4D but to play it and earn achievements herself she would need to buy the whole game on a separate Steam account. Madness."

    It hadn't even occurred to me that Steam would make that restriction. Makes sense I guess, but I agree it blows. Sounds like Steam could really benefit from a "guest/visitor" type structure, using the "host" ID to secure the running of the game, but allow the guest to get their achievements.

    I can understand that Steam needs to secure sales of their games in digital form, but I would hope that requiring a purchase per player on the same system is a side-effect of their system, rather than an intentional "we want money from everyone" move.


    @Gastrian

    Ah sorry, crossed wires :)


    @davisorle

    First off, you seem confused over the difference between "truth" and "opinion". And asking why people are complaining about something is in fact a question, truth is not part of the picture.

    Regardless, what is taking place is a discussion about the pros and cons of the offer MS is giving. No offer is perfect for everyone, so we are discussing how it might be improved for our own personal circumstances.

    A discussion like this is perfectly normal behaviour, because nothing is perfect and everything can be improved on a subjective basis. What is not normal (and is more than a little ironic) is a few ADHD sufferers getting all angry and upset because people are discussing the options.

    Peew971 no doubt has his/her own motives for whining about how other people are apparently whining about this MS deal, as of course you have your own motive for defending him/her. I'm not sure anybody here is really interested in either of them though, but do carry on if it makes you feel good. Makes no difference to us.

  • Pastici #28 2 years ago

    @Geordiemp

    I have cranked the numbers and it's no way near £300 :). I've spent maybe £80 on two and a half years subs over all. Even with this deal it's no where near in the region of £300. Silly billy.

  • davisorle #29 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • kangarootoo #30 2 years ago

    @davisorle

    Ok, I was a little arsey. I apologise. Let me put it a different way.


    If you have a differing point of view to the one prevelent in the discussion, voice it in a constructive way and join in. Peewee didn't gets negs for speaking "the truth", he got negs for writing "I guess what they say about gamers being whiners is true :/".

    And you didn't get negs for backing up the speaking of "the truth", you got it for "How the fuck is it that you guys are bitchign and find it difficult when someone is offering you a bundle of 50% off? Wtf is the matter with you."


    There must be more constructive ways to voice an opinion than simply attacking everyone else for whinging. This is a money-off offer but one that comes with conditions, so we can talk about the value of the offer, whether the conditions suit our own circumstances, whether the existing system works for us.

    For Peewee to just decry others for raising issues (like I said, nothing is perfect and so everything can be critisised) is not joining the debate, it is trying to stifle the debate - trying to say that anyone who holds a negative opinion (in this case) is "whinging" and should just stop. That sort of thing gets on my tits frankly.

    Anyway, hope that makes where I am coming from clearer. Sorry I went over the top on you, I could have framed it better.

  • SlackMaster #31 2 years ago

    I can only think of one instance where this would be useful. But why??? Why not do something more people would find useful like offering a signup for 2 years gold membership at a proper discount.

  • Geordiemp #32 2 years ago

    @Peew971

    Try a family and 2 xboxes and add it up over 3 years, silly billy. It adds up, and I cant be arsed to search for deals just to play online or scratch cards or some forum people asking for 24 hr codes.

    To me, I buy games for £ 20, £ 25 at a push, and over 3 years live subs for 2 xboxes and multiple users thats allot of games.

    So we have 2 Ps3;s now as well. Gold is fine for single user single xbox if you like xparty chat. Its poor value otherwise.
    Edited by Geordiemp at 23/06/10 @ 13:30

  • SHPanda #33 2 years ago

    @Geordiemp - Why does the number of Xbox's matter? You can use a profile on whatever Xbox you want... so 4 accounts at £80 a year for 3 years is £240. And that's forgetting that most places tend to undercut the RRP, you shop online and you'll be able to find these family packs for £70 most likely, so that £210 for three years for four accounts.

  • Geordiemp #34 2 years ago

    £ 210 when I can get it for free ? Bargain.

  • MDL199 #35 2 years ago

    @Geordiemp

    You're wasting your time talking to the xbox fanboys pal. The more M$ urinate over them the more they worship them. I have both consoles and do pay for Live but I do so very grudgingly as there is very little difference to PSN and it just seems perverse to actually pay to play online a game you just spent £40 odd on.

    M$ should make online gaming free and just charge a fee for features over and above that like cross game party chat. We'd then see how important that feature really is to Live users by the number of people who'd pay for it. I'd doubt it'd be many.

  • Spungles #36 2 years ago

    @Geordiemp
    Hang on, where can I play Forza online for free?

    @MDL199
    Worshipping MS while covered in their piss? Is that what I've been doing while playing Xbox games? Well who cares, I'm having a right laugh. Judging from the bile in your post it doesn't sound like you are. And is that same piss from all of MS or just the entertainment division? I can't see why SQL developers would be urinating on me.

    this is a better deal than before. Good enough? Only you can decide. Which is kind of obvious really.

  • Geordiemp #37 2 years ago

    Stop being so aggressive people.

    How many silver accounts are there, or live accounts vs 360's sold. There is a fair number, millions of poeple, who think its too much.

    I have 2 xboxes and allot of games, so I am not anti 360. God, some people are so childish.

  • MDL199 #38 2 years ago

    @Spungles

    I piss on you, your comments and opinions!

    Enjoy the golden nectar!

  • davisorle #39 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012