Beat the Xbox Game Pass price rise with this excellent Game Pass Core conversion trick
It's coming, but you can beat it.
With the recent news that Microsoft is raising the prices across the board for all of its Game Pass tiers and making big changes to the service, it makes deals like this one all the more pertinent. Currently, CDKeys has 12 months of Game Pass Core (the old Xbox Live Gold) for £31, which you can still stack up for Game Pass Ultimate, although in a slightly different way to previous. It used to be a 1:1 conversion rate - that is, if you loaded up 3 years of Gold, you got 3 years of Game Pass Ultimate for being a 'new' subscriber. However, the ratio has now changed to 3:2 - for every 3 years of Game Pass Core, you can convert to 2 years of Ultimate. The trick still works though, and is quite important if you want to beat those impending price rises.
With my maths being right, all being well, you can take three years of Game Pass Core and turn them into two years' worth of Game Pass Ultimate. Unlike previous instances where it's required you to purchase a stack of three months codes, this deal relies on three simple 12 months codes at £31 a piece. Purchase three of those - that's £93 - and then input them into your 'Redeem A Code' section on Microsoft's website. Redeem them all, and it should say you've got Core until 29th July 2027 (if you do it today). Then, it's a case of converting this all to Game Pass Ultimate.
With this, you've got two ways to do it. Either way, we've got to activate the redeemed Game Pass Core and convert it over to Game Pass Ultimate. You can either simply go to Microsoft's dedicated Game Pass Ultimate microsite, click on 'Upgrade, pay the extra £14.99 charge for a month's Ultimate, and it should convert your three years of Core to two years' Game Pass Ultimate for the total sum of £108.
However, there is a way that saves you a few pounds - you can simply purchase a key for a month's Game Pass Ultimate from CD Keys for £8, input that into the 'Redeem A Code' section and it should convert the amount already loaded onto your account to Ultimate alongside the added month. So, that works out to £101 for 25 months Game Pass Ultimate - a price of £4.04 a month, which is not to be sniffed at. With this code, make sure you select the right one, as CDKeys also sell a non-stackable code which is slightly cheaper - the one linked above is the right one.
Of course, the big caveat to this is that it only works at the 3:2 rate if you let an existing subscription expire. Otherwise, the ratio is worse for converting from Core to Ultimate, working at a 3:1 ratio. So, if your Ultimate subscription is due to expire in the next few weeks (and ideally, before September 12th, which is when prices go up across the board), simply wait until it expires, and then follow the conversion trick above. Also make sure you turn off recurring billing for peace of mind.
If you want to grab a couple of years' worth of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on the cheap, this combo of a CDKeys reduction on Game Pass Core and the conversion trick is still chugging along.