EA Is Reportedly Stopping An Xbox Game Pass Family Plan

Xbox Game Pass has often been referred to as the Netflix of gaming, yet it still doesn't quite have the customer benefits that something like a Netflix account has. For example, Netflix has a service that allows people to put other households in their accounts for an additional fee. Xbox has no such thing, as everyone that wants Game Pass has to have their own subscription.

To combat this, there was talk about an Xbox Game Pass Family Plan that would function in a similar way, allowing users to add up to four people to their subscriptions. It was even trialed in places like Ireland and Colombia, yet almost four years later, we haven't seen it rolled out, despite how popular the service would probably be.

Turns Out, It Might Be EA's Fault

While you might naturally think that it was Xbox or Microsoft sitting on its thumb, it sounds like there's an unexpected company stopping the Xbox Game Pass Family Plan from being a widespread service, and that's none other than Electronic Arts.

In a recent article by Windows Central that discusses the features that Xbox users still wish to see on the platform, insider Jez Corden claims that the project has actually been canceled, and that he was told it was EA's fault. According to his sources, EA apparently "fully hated the idea" of a Family Plan, which then forced Xbox to stop the idea as EA was an early believer in the pass and still supports it.

Of course, that takes a lot of the blame off of Xbox and Microsoft, and I'm sure that if either of the two put a lucrative enough deal on the table for EA, then it would have accepted. There's also the fact that Microsoft could have simply booted EA out of the Game Pass project, which would have arguably been pretty disastrous for EA's engagement numbers.

Obviously, it's not just EA's fault, as Microsoft has to take some of the blame too, but it does sound like the Xbox Game Pass Family Plan would have been a more widespread thing if EA had been a bit more cooperative. Now, the entire thing seems a little bit unlikely, but with the recent price drop and removal of Call of Duty, it does seem like Xbox is experimenting to get the price down.