Xbox Game Pass Ultimate - Am I Missing Something Here?

QuickToThePointless on 11/12/2024 - 11:54
Last edited 11/12/2024 - 11:54

This latest deal from Eneba $37 for 3 months/ $12.33 per month

JBhifi has $80 for 12 months of Core, which converts to 6 months of GP Ultimate (it's now 2:1 ratio I believe?)/$13.33 per month

So buying from Eneba saves a grand total of $1 per month?

And if you have a birthday perk code at JB Hifi, you save another $10, making it $11.67 per month for the win?

Why are people buying form shady code resellers?

Or am I missing something entirely here….

Gaming Microsoft PC Game Subscription Xbox One Game Xbox Series Game

Comments

  • spackbace on 11/12/2024 - 12:15
    +1

    https://www.cjs-cdkeys.com/products/Xbox-Game-Pass-Core-12-M…

    ~$43 for 12 months Core here = ~$7.20/month for Ultimate, if prepared to use a VPN (easy enough)

    There's talk of Core conversion in that post and confusion over the conversion ratio

    • PG57 on 11/12/2024 - 12:24

      FWIW - handful of reports with people having issues with cjs-cdkeys

    • QuickToThePointless on 11/12/2024 - 12:41

      nice… what country VPN do you know?

      • spackbace on 30/01/2025 - 13:32

        Just to update this post, just extended my (expired) sub by 19 months for about $140.

        3x 12 month Core India keys from G2A
        1x 1 month Ultimate India key from G2A

        VPN to India, go to redeem.microsoft.com, punch Core keys in then the Ultimate

        ~$7.40/month is acceptable

  • dbz88 on 11/12/2024 - 17:56

    Didn't know about the core conversion but I purchased ultimate for $49 for 3 months from CDKeys last night and it worked fine. That core conversion deal sound ripper though!
    I used a Turkey 2 year game pass a few years back.. used VPN but had to call Microsoft for them to activate for me. Lucky enough they did.

  • ODST05 on 12/12/2024 - 09:38

    Yeah, I would much rather going through an official reseller for ~$1 extra per month… Just make sure you add as much Core to your account before doing the conversion (adding any amount of Game Pass Ultimate) in order to get the 2:1 ratio, otherwise you will get a worse conversion ratio. You can also get a $10 coupon for signing up to JB's newsletter, however unfortunately I don't think it stacks with the birthday one.

    In summary from https://support.xbox.com/en-AU/help/subscriptions-billing/ma… and https://support.xbox.com/en-AU/help/subscriptions-billing/ma…

    • A maximum of 36 months of either Game Pass Core or Ultimate can be added to your account.
    • Upgrading from a lower tier Xbox Game Pass (eg Core) to Ultimate will convert any prepaid time you already have added to your account up to a maximum of 36 months.
    • The Xbox Game Pass Core conversion ratio is 2:1 and be rounded up to the next full day. For example, 90 days of Xbox Game Pass Core will convert to 45 days of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
    • QuickToThePointless on 12/12/2024 - 10:49

      sorry what do you mean "add as much Core to your account before doing the conversion" ?

      • ODST05 on 12/12/2024 - 11:47
        +1

        @QuickToThePointless All good, but I'm not quite sure which part you don't understand as I kind of explained this in a condensed format immediately after what you quoted and in the summary at the end of my post… However a longer and more in-depth explanation is that:

        • my comment and post are talking about converting an Xbox Game Pass Core (referred to as Core) subscription to an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (referred to as Ultimate) subscription;
        • this conversion happens automatically when adding any amount of a higher tier Game Pass subscription (for example Ultimate) to your Xbox account while you have an active lower tier subscription (for example Core);
        • the conversion the post is talking about (from Core to Ultimate) is currently applied at a ratio of 2:1 as shown in the Xbox site I linked to in the summary;
        • an example of this 2:1 conversion is that 90 days (3 months) of an active Core subscription will be converted to 45 days (1.5 months) of an Ultimate subscription;
        • the conversion ratio will be worse if you add any amount of a lower tier subscription (for example Core) to an account with an existing subscription of a higher tier (for example Ultimate), which is the opposite of what this post is talking about;
        • An example of this worse conversion ratio is ~2.25:1 when adding 90 days (3 months) of Core to an existing Ultimate subscription, as your Core subscription will be converted to 38 days (1.5 months) of Ultimate (I think that ratio increases as the conversion amount increases).

        I think that should cover it all, however I may have accidentally written something wrong because I am exhausted lol so if you need any more clarification please ask and I'll do my best.

        • QuickToThePointless on 12/12/2024 - 11:59
          +1

          thanks for the detailed reply, much appreicated, clear on it now.

          they really have made this pretty confusing…and pretty expensive without hacks

          cheers!

          • ODST05 on 12/12/2024 - 12:04

            @QuickToThePointless: Yeah I reckon they make it confusing on purpose so that people are more likely to just give up and go with the easy/expensive option.

            • QuickToThePointless on 12/12/2024 - 12:16

              @ODST05: yeah i really dont want to give them my $$ at these ridculous pricing tiers!

              i had the 3 year deal for like $120 which expires soon and i dont really use it that much, just like online play for the odd game of halo/street fighter, and i want to play thrugh codblops6 and indiana jones over the holidays!

              • ODST05 on 12/12/2024 - 14:45

                @QuickToThePointless: I had the same thing which also just ran out… I still feel like Game Pass is decent value considering the huge amount of available games, but it sucks that the price keeps going up.

            • PG57 on 12/12/2024 - 12:44

              @ODST05: thanks for the great write up. I'm currently on Ultimate. To make the most of this, do I need to let my subscription lapse and end, then sign up to Core? then upgrade to Ultimate?

              • ODST05 on 12/12/2024 - 15:34
                +1

                @PG57: Yep I think that's the way to get the best value:

                1. Either be a new Game Pass Core subscriber, or let your current Game Pass subscription expire.
                2. Buy and redeem 36 months of Game Pass Core as cheaply as possible (ensuring that any gift cards etc you get from overseas can be redeemed in Australia).
                3. Buy and redeem 1 month of Game Pass Ultimate (or use a free trial if you find one that works with an existing Game Pass subscription).

                So for example (assuming that my back of the napkin math is correct), if your Game Pass subscription has lapsed, and you use both the JB HiFi Perks and Birthday discounts ($10 each) to buy 3x 12 month Game Pass Core cards ($80 each) - which you will have to do in separate transactions thanks to a single item per transaction limit - you can get 19 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for ~$12 per month.

  • ODST05 on 12/12/2024 - 14:38
    +2

    Ok so my math might be wrong, but I think the best way to make it as cheap as possible without going through a keyshop or the grey market would be to do a combination of the below:

    • Buy a Game Pass subscription through an official reseller while it is on sale for 5-10% - for example Amazon's recent deal.
    • Buy a gift card on sale for 5-15% off - check gcdb.
    • Use a credit card with a cashback and/or rewards points offer - for example Westpac's 5% or ANZ's $50 current deals.
    • Buy a gift card through a cashback scheme - for example ANZ Plus/Cashrewards.
    • Buy a gift card or Game Pass subscription from somewhere which gives out coupons - for example JB HiFi's 10% birthday or perks coupon.
  • Well Wasted on 12/12/2024 - 20:22

    just to add confusion… pretty sure you can only pre-load 13 months total since september… happy to be wrong.

    • spackbace on 12/12/2024 - 20:50
      +1

      https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/subscriptions-billing/ma…

      Game Pass Core and PC Game Pass can be extended to a maximum of 36 months in all countries where they’re available except for the following, where the limit is 13 months: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, and Türkiye.

      It's almost like they realised what was happening…

      Ok, noted not to convert from those countries. Looks like India gamepass is the best choice

      • QuickToThePointless on 12/12/2024 - 22:11

        just realising since the 3 year deal from 3 years ago, MS have reallly put the squeeze on these backdoor hacks :(

      • Mr Mrrtn on 20/12/2024 - 07:13

        Where is the best place to buy the Indian gamepass from?

        People mention the need to use a VPN, where do you need to use this in the sign up or purchase process?

  • ShaneeMorg on 26/12/2024 - 18:05

    I purchased it once to unlock my agents i Valorant :v

    • jjsu on 26/12/2024 - 18:47

      If your Game Pass expires, I believe you lose access to agents that you haven't already permanently unlocked with the earnable Kingdom Credits.

      Same thing happens in League, once your Game Pass expires, you lose access to all champions.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join