PSA - Xbox gamepass Ultimate hack... part 2

I think it still works but you only get 2/3 of the duration now. I last did it a couple of months ago before they made that change.

I bought 4x 3 month xbox live keys, redeemed these (it offered me +1 month free for turning on recurring billing for each one).

I then bought 1 month game pass and used it to convert the time before turning off recurring billing again.

17 months total for about £40.

Thanks will give it a try

Get a move on if you are thinking about this - Gold disappears in september and you'll be automatically switched to a 'Core' version of gamepass - access to a selection of 25 games.  dont know if any of the 'hacks' will work thereafter.

I tend to play PUBG mostly which is free to play online, so have let my Gold lapse.  been looking forward to Starfield and am tempted to hit gamepass for a month and try it before paying almost £70 for the standard version.

I wonder what would happen if you bought a Gold serial from CDKeys / EF now and then tried to apply them after it'd been retired? Is there a grace period perhaps?

am tempted to hit gamepass for a month and try it before paying almost £70 for the standard version.

£70 for one game vs twice that for access to hundreds for three years seems something of a no-brainer to me unless you're planning on getting 18 months out of Starfield.

£70 for one game vs twice that for access to hundreds for three years seems something of a no-brainer to me unless you’re planning on getting 18 months out of Starfield.

That's the thing, it's how they lock you in. I'm looking to downgrade as I really don't think I'm getting my moneys worth, if Gold is ending then that's probably the shove I need.

Thread resurrection - just jumped through the hoops for my son. 3 x 12 month Core Gamepass keys from CDKeys, then 1 month Ultimate has resulted in 25 months of Ultimate for about £100. £275 saved so not bad.

(Did also buy a supposed 12 month India core key from CJS keys which turned out to be a 6 month which spoiled the numbers a bit - had they turned out to be legit then it would have been 25 months for about £70.)

You've reminded me, I should buy a key....

So, how does this work again?

So, how does this work again?

Cancel your subscription, wait a day or so. (The wait is probably unecessary IMO, I think the key is to have no active subscription, but we did it).

Buy three of these 12 month Core subscriptions. <b><u> https://www.cdkeys.com/xbox-live/xbox-game-pass-core-12-month-membership-ww</u></b>

Apply them all, ('stack them'). You should now have 3 years Core for 3 x 33 at the rates when I linked.

Buy 1 month Ultimate eg  https://www.cdkeys.com/xbox-live/1-month-xbox-game-pass-ultimate-xbox-one-pc . Apply it. It converts your Core to Ultimate at a 2/3 rate. You should end up with 2 yrs Ultimate plus the 1 month you bought. About £108 total in fact.

You can (in theory) make it cheaper by buying 12 month Indian Core passes and applying them while connected to India via a VPN. This did work apart from the problem that the 12 month key from CJS turned out to be a 6 month. There are apparently some other variations to get the 1 month Ultimate which then converts the Core, but the above method worked for us.

Careful with CDKeys. I used them for years without issue until one day they sent me an already used code and were complete chunts about it. I had to get confirmation from Microsoft that the code has been redeemed prior to me purchasing it, which I did however CDKeys then stopped replying. Had to do a chargeback in the end.

I buy my codes from Shopto.net now, or eBay.

Timely bump, mine runs out next month.  I was wondering whether this still worked.

Is there anyway to have multiple Xboxes in the same house using the same gamepass?

I’ve always been a PS person but both boys have Xboxes and I struggled to get them set up without lots of sweary words!

Set the other box to be the Home console.

Thank you @Branes

Set the other box to be the Home console.

To expand on this...

-Activate the Game Pass subscription on child A's Xbox

-Add child A's account to child B's Xbox

-Whilst logged into child B's Xbox as child A, go into Settings > Personalisation > Make this my Home Xbox

-Add child B's Xbox to child A's Xbox and do the reverse of the above steps

This way any purchases or subscriptions made on either account will be shared with both of them.

Note that this only works between two consoles though, and you can only change Home console 5 times a year. Microsoft were meant to bringing out a Game Pass Family plan but I'm not sure what's happening with that.

Also...

For additional convenience, change the log-in settings on each child's console so their controllers sign them in automatically. Saves choosing an account when turning the consoles on.

Finally, depending on their age the Xbox Family Settings app (Android/iOS) is pretty handy too. Means you can set screentime limits and have it so you have to approve any purchases or age restricted content.

My 3 years from the previous hack comes to the end tomorrow. Are the previously mention methods to get a 2 year deal still working or is there another work round?

Bump

I think so. I did 12months for 8 a while back to test it and it worked. worked out just over £30 buying the codes from cdkeys

@jam-bo which game passes did you purchase to make it work.

12 months of core and then 1 month of ultimate I think. gave me 8 months of ultimate.

I've just done this.  3 months Core at £33.39 each, 1 month Ultimate at £7.99.  5.55% cashback via TCB = ~ £104.  This converted 36m core to only 20m Ultimate.

It's still cheap at £5 a month, but not as good as it used to be

I’ve just done this.  3 months Core at £33.39 each, 1 month Ultimate at £7.99.  5.55% cashback via TCB = ~ £104.  This converted 36m core to only 20m Ultimate.

I'm guessing you mean 3 years Core rather than months, I don't get what the TCB bit means though - are you not just getting 5.55% on the £108.16 spend giving you £6 back?

Yes -  3 years core and yes,  5.55% cashback via Top Cash Back.

It works with Gold too (while stocks last). I did it a couple of months back, £104 for two years. I completely forgot about TCB though.

I completely forgot about TCB though.

It's a useful reminder from Daffy, I often overlook it and 5.55% on £108 makes it well worth routing the purchase via the cashback app.

@Daffy  Did you buy the European code , UK or some other from CDkeys?  Europe showing as £33.30, Uk £36.44

I bought:

12 Month Xbox Live Gold Membership - (EU & UK) x3 = £95.97
1 Month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Xbox One / PC x1 = £8.99

I would be a little bit careful in that some codes apparently aren't upgradable. You can save a few quid with foreign codes if you have a VPN up at the point of activation (you don't need it afterwards) but in both cases the risk vs reward wasn't worth it for me. Sub- ten quid a month for 2 years of Ultimate is a steal without fretting about pence.

@Cougar2 , where did you purchase your passes from ? Cdkeys?

Yup.

I've used Electronic First historically, it's worth comparing both.

Anyone know if this is still available? Mine runs out next week and it was three years ago that I did it so I’ve forgotten what to do.. 🙄 Do I need to let it expire and then buy new?

What are the steps to get Xbox Live Gold and Gamepass Ultimate for three years? 

Read up the page.  It's not quite the deal it once was, three years of Gold / Core converts to two years of Ultimate.  That's still considerably cheaper than just buying Ultimate directly though.

You need to let any existing subscriptions expire first.  Check that you haven't got auto-renew enabled.

Thanks. Does it matter where you buy it from? 

Pah - I only got 18 months ultimate by adding a month of ultimate onto a 3 year core subscription . My Ultimate ends November 2026 against 3 years of core which originally ended in April 2028.

Does that mean I can add another month in November 26 or can I add another month now? 

Ok. Another subscription adding £££%%% per month! Hoping some genius will give the secrets to getting the max ultimate before the price increase. My ultimate expires early November 25. 🧐  

Mine runs out on Saturday so just bought a 3 month Ultimate code from Shopto for £33. I'm sure there will still be ways to get it cheaper than direct from MS going forward, although even at £22 p/m I'd still get my moneys worth out of it.

Yeah, I'm now doing 3 months at a time for £33-ish, but all ears if there is a better way currently.

MS has just announced a new tiering structure.  Core is now Essential, Standard is now Premium (I didn't know there was a 'standard') and Ultimate remains Ultimate.  Most with a significant price hike.  You do get Ubisoft+ bundled though. 

Whether this old trick will still work afterwards, I haven't looked.

Also, cdkeys has rebranded (probably due to the dearth of CDs) as "Loaded."  You can, as of today, still buy the old Core cards from there.

Aha.

https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/help/subscriptions-billing/manage-subscriptions/xbox-game-pass-conversions