Xbox Testing New ‘Starter Edition’ Game Pass Tier for Discord Nitro Subscribers

Xbox is testing a new tier of Game Pass for Discord Nitro subscribers.

Earlier this week, newly-installed Xbox boss Asha Sharma announced that the firm would be collaborating ever closer with Discord in the near future — and now, Nitro subscribers have been given a glimpse at what to expect.

Artwork showing Xbox Game Pass becoming available as part of the Nitro subscription has now been discovered and posted on social media by DiscordPreviews, while references to a new “Starter Edition” tier have been found by another user, Redphx.

https://twitter.com/DiscordPreviews/status/2047464611658567764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Of course, it was always unlikely that the full Xbox Game Pass catalog would be opened up to Nitro subscribers (who pay $9.99 a month for extra Dsicord features as well as a smattering other rewards). It also remains to be seen if this partnership between Xbox and Discord will also unlock extra rewards for existing Xbox Game Pass members (perhaps Nitro itself becomes part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offering?)

For now, though, fans believe the above leaked artwork shows what the new Starter Edition will likely provide: “50+ games, 10 hours of cloud gaming a month.”

This mention of “50+” games is how Microsoft already describes the smaller-scale catalog available to Xbox Game Pass Essential, so it may be the offerings here are aligned. The Essential line-up includes older classics, such as Batman: Arkham Knight and Dishonored 2, as well as popular indie games such as Among Us, Stardew Valley, Spiritfarer and Inside.

Last night, Xbox released a major new mission statement penned by Microsoft’s gaming boss Asha Sharma and veteran Xbox exec Matt Booty and unveiled a refreshed logo for the brand — the latest moves by Sharma since she took on the job two months ago.

Further changes to Xbox are coming, Sharma teased, following the firm’s recent decision to cut the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass on PC, while removing new Call of Duty games from the subscription service at launch. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has gone from $29.99 per month to $22.99 per month, while PC Game Pass has been reduced from $16.49 per month to $13.99 per month.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social