Xbox merges Live Gold and Game Pass under Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Xbox has announced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, an upcoming monthly subscription that rolls the offerings of Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game pass into one.

It’s a move that aims to consolidate the two big subscription services into one monthly fee, and likely make enrolling in the subscription-based Game Pass program a more attractive option for those already paying for a Gold subscription.

The new $14.99-a-month service comes with all the features of Xbox Live Gold, like online multiplayer and monthly game freebies and sales, as well as access to the Xbox Game Pass library. For those paying month-by-month, subscribing to Game Pass Ultimate would save about $5 every time since each service on its own currently comes with a $9.99 per-month pricetag.

For now, it looks like the 2-in-1 service is being offered in addition to the existing monthly plans rather than a replacement for either. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is set to go live at an unannounced point later this year, though Xbox has plans to open it up to select Xbox Insider members as a test run prior to that full launch.