Microsoft
If you want to get a friend to play a game on PC Game Pass, but the other party refuses to pay for it, now there is a compromise. Starting today, existing Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can gift a free 14-day PC Game Pass trial to up to five friends, provided none of the five friends have previously subscribed to the service.
Why PC Game Pass? Perhaps what Phil Spencer, the boss of Microsoft’s gaming department, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last fall can give us an answer. At the time, Spencer said that Game Pass on the PC was experiencing “amazing” growth, and relatively speaking, it was difficult for Xbox to go further because the users were already saturated. Under such a premise, it seems reasonable for Microsoft to only provide discounts for PC users.
However, the free 14 days follows after Microsoft terminated the one-month trial of Game Pass for $1. It seems difficult to say which one is more cost-effective. At the time, Microsoft said it would “evaluate different marketing strategies” to attract new customers to subscribe to Game Pass.