Help with Xboxes and subscriptions. Single mum. Huge purchase for me. Not a gamer

[notagamer]

I’m lost!
my son is 14 and never had any gaming sevixe

i have been saving for best part of 2 years and an afford an Xbox series s and two games.

the issue is the bloomin subscription service.

what does it mean?
do I need to get?
what do they do?
which one best?

i am sorry. I can’t mess this up.

A desperate bump!

I don't have an xbox so I'm not sure exactly what the online subscription provides but you shouldn't need it, with other consoles this just provides extra features like online play and deals on games.

Depends which games you get. If wanting to play with friends online membership is required. The best is gamepass ultimate as allows you to download lots of games for free. Check the Xbox website as they were doing a months trial for £1. If they are still doing the trial then may want to look online for a gold membership subscription for 12 months as when you take up the trial it converts the whole year to the ultimate. That's what my son's both did. If not connecting online then membership is not required but alot of games insist on being connected. Hope that makes sense.

Hi, if it's the game pass subscription, there's certain games that are on it that & they can be downloaded & played without being charged for the game (just make sure you're aware which ones, if there's in game purchases etc) we've got it & for us it's pretty good value, the games he wants have a check if they're on the pass rather than paying in fullfor them!

He needs an Xbox live account - there is a Gold subscription available, that way he can play with friends online which I presume he wants to do. Starts at £6.99/month but can get 12 month subscriptions too. I don’t think it’s worth getting without one.

The best thing to do is go into Game & speak to them about the best options. You might find that games you can access online with live gold membership are ones your son wants to play so you mightn't need to spend on 2 games.

I've always found staff in game really helpful & always explain things to me when my kids don't know

Be careful of adding any debit / credit card details to the account / console

There is a hack where you can upgrade a game pass to a better pass so you get more for your money. I would see if the games you're intending to buy are on the subscription as that might work out better.

www.pcworld.com/article/397667/get-3-years-xbox-game-pass-ultimate-tip.html

Thank you!

Definitely NOT for me! Can’t imagine anything worse

but I finally, finally! Have the money saved to treat him. I can’t tell you how happy he will be

i need to get it right

so I’m getting him Xbox series s and 2 games (i download them??) but this subscription service is baffling me!

Forza and Red Dead and hitman he has mentioned

What’s the difference to the ultimate?

Once downloaded are they yours to keep?

No you're renting the games for as long as you have a pass and the game is in the library. Games can be withdrawn.

Forza (4 and 5, the two most recent forza games) and the hitman trilogy are included in gamepass, so don't buy them separately if you're going the subscription route!

We have a series s and a gamepass subscription and, honestly, there's enough there to keep us going for ages without buying more games. (3 people playing different games numerous times a week)

If you get the subscription you might not need to buy the games depending what type it is. Your 14 year old may know more about it than you!

We bought our x box second hand (from decent shop locally) then the x box live gold separately (bought as one off payment for 12 months from argos). It's necessary to be able to play and chat online with friends.

My top tip is that only you know the login password so your DS has to ask before gaming! We never say no but he understands he has to do his homework and walk the dog first at the weekend 😁

Thank you All so much
id like to surprise him!

thing is… he will likely ONLY play those three games (I know him!) so would a subscription still be worth it on that scenario

are the subscriptions best for those that like to try different games?

i will definitely need to get the one that allows online access though. Which one is that?

Hi, my other half works in the gaming industry.
His recommendation is getting an xbox ultimate subscription if you can afford it. It's £10.99 a month. It includes game pass and xbox live.
Gamepass has the forza games included as well as most games made by Microsoft owned studios (there's about 100 games included so there'll be something he can play)
Xbox live is what he needs to play with his friends online.
So the ultimate bundle will mean there's something he can play straight away (once downloaded) and he will be able to talk to his friends online.
Also Microsoft has a pretty good parental system so you can bar him from playing anything you don't deem appropriate age wise.
Let me know if you want any other advice as himself is very good at this stuff and happy to help.

Oh wow! Thank you
i will have before I splurge and really appreciate your offer

Yes he'll absolutely want an subscription. Just get one

I forgot to add. You'll get the first month of the ultimate bundle for £1, so can try it out and see if it's got what he wants.
But as dp just pointed out to me normal xbox live gold is £7 a month and essential. And games pass is £8. So the bundle saves money.

You can get an xbox series s (no disc drive, plays games from the cloud only) plus ultimate bundle for £20.99 a month from Game if that makes life easier for you. (Over 24 months so slightly more expensive in the long term but means less of a splurge now)

Finally something I have knowledge of. Happy to help!

Ohhhh i have a massive tip! Don’t set the Xbox account against your email - I have a 19 year old and realised you can’t separate the Xbox account from your general Microsoft account (email, files, Skype etc). So he has accumulated years of points and I’ve had to set up a new MS account and transfer or delete stuff otherwise he would have access to all mine OR lose all his progress.

Do not add a credit card and make sure you monitor who he is speaking and messaging, if anyone you can set up parental controls.

My kids got this for Christmas - if you think of it as Netflix for games it makes it a bit easier to understand. It's all online and you just download the stuff you want to play. It's avoided expensive game purchase mistakes here!

It's so exciting when you get to give your kids something you know they'll love!

Does he want an Xbox over a playstation? Need to get that bit right and the rest will follow.

And yeah. Never add a card.

Mine have only really used the live function to chat/game with friends. There's a website you can get a subscription a bit cheaper I'll try and remember

www.cdkeys.com

This one - I've used it a lot. You get a code via email (rather than the physical scratch cards) and put it in to the account to redeem.