Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition With Discord Nitro Leaks Amid Microsoft Gaming Rebrand
As Xbox announced that "We Are Xbox" and teased numerous changes coming to the underdog console brand (including "more details" to be shared regarding a collaboration with Discord), a leak dropped revealing that Discord Nitro's $10 plan will now include the Starter tier of Xbox Game Pass. That tier includes unlimited access to 50+ catalog titles, Xbox Rewards, and 10 hours of cloud-streamed games per month.
Coming after the recent Xbox Game Pass price drop lowering Ultimate to $22.99 a month as well as the removal of day-one access to the blockbuster Call of Duty series, these moves to modify the value of Game Pass seem to have come surprisingly quickly after the leaked memo that we reported on April 14th.
It isn't quite a full restoration to the Xbox Game Pass glory days considering that Game Pass Ultimate was $16.99 as recently as 2024 before being hiked to $29.99 and tweaked to $22.99 in the time since, but its current resting spot is a solid improvement. From Microsoft's perspective, it's likely that day-one access to an annual release series with numbers like Call of Duty's just wasn't profitable, and since Xbox doubles as the largest third-party publisher these days, that choice does matter. If you only play COD for a month or two each year with a new release (as many do), Game Pass Ultimate allowed you to get that far cheaper than actually buying the game, even at $29.99.
In any case, the leaks coming out from and around Microsoft Xbox are largely positive for the brand. Outside of leaks, the vision painted by the "We Are Xbox" blog post is largely positive and indicates a renewed drive to "Make Xbox the best place for developers and creators to build and grow." Other goals highlighted include expansion into China, fortifying Game Pass with "clear differentiation and sustainable economics," improving cloud gaming latency, and perhaps most importantly, "grow and extend an enduring portfolio of franchises players love." For fans of the myriad of beloved developers acquired by Xbox, delivering on that last point will make all the difference, even if you don't wind up playing the games on Helix.
Image Credit: Microsoft, @DiscordPreviews on X/Twitter
