Microsoft Revives Xbox All Access Program, Now Includes Next-Gen Upgrade Option

Microsoft is bringing back its Xbox All Access plan, the monthly subscription that includes membership to Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass, as well as Xbox One hardware, all for a discounted monthly fee. From a report: This time, however, Microsoft is giving subscribers the option to prep for a next-generation console upgrade when the next Xbox, named Project Scarlett, launches in holiday 2020. Xbox All Access originally launched in summer 2018. As part of that subscription, for $21.99 per month for 24 months, subscribers got an Xbox One S, Xbox Live Gold, and Game Pass; and for $34.99 per month, subscribers got an Xbox One X, in addition to Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass. There was no upfront cost, and at the end of the 24-month subscription period, subscribers keep the Xbox One hardware they paid for.

Crickets

[ItsJustAPseudonym]

...can't even be heard here.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

When Microsoft built the original Xbox out of PC parts, the response was meh. But then we learned we could hack it up and that was exciting. Microsoft actually lost money on those sales, which was icing on the cake. But they got their security game on, and now we can't do that, and you can buy a real PC for little more. So why would we be excited?

People keep claiming that Microsoft has turned over a new leaf, but if they had, they wouldn't prevent us from using the hardware for our own purposes. And now the

Re:

[twocows]

MS, Nintendo, and Sony are all opposed to people breaking their consoles. In fact, Nintendo's probably the most vehemently opposed to it (they have some very imaginative interpretations of copyright law, too), and yet Nintendo's been the most consistently hacked (the 3DS was broken wide open, the Wii U was hacked pretty bad, and the Switch was hacked pretty bad with a few caveats).

As far as gaming as a service goes, it's currently a joke and I hope it remains that way. The main reason everyone's jumping

Re: Crickets

[synaptic]

Sony did have the Net Yaroze at one time.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

They are all opposed, yes. But Microsoft would never have become as big as they did in the first place if not for the hackability.

Nintendo is simply not as competent as Microsoft at locking things down. And they failed conspicuously to do it the first time, but they've clearly learned. It's too bad they can't make their OS secure without special hardware, or without locking the user out.