Now, here in 2026, Windows Central reporter Jez Corden has mentioned that the cancellation of Xbox Game Pass's family plan "wasn't actually Microsoft's fault", at least according to what he's heard.
He instead advises that it might have been EA that put up the biggest fight against it, claiming that the company "fully hated the idea". Was this the only reason for its cancellation? Probably not, but it might have been a big one.
"Here's another painfully canceled project, although I heard this one wasn't actually Microsoft's fault. Microsoft was testing a Family Plan for Xbox Game Pass, giving up to four users access to the library in exchange for a discount."
"I was told EA, who is a long-term contractee within the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem, fully hated the idea."
Of course, when Jez says that it wasn't "actually Microsoft's fault", it's still ultimately Microsoft that signs off on making these decisions at the end of the day, and perhaps they decided that the wishes of EA (and most likely many other publishers that weren't too happy with the idea) were more business-critical than implementing a Family Plan.
There's still demand for it though. We mentioned in our roundup of initial "XBOX Player Voice" requests earlier this week that the Family Plan was the fifth most-requested bit of feedback from Xbox fans at the time, and it's still sitting in that position as things stand.
We're going to be optimists and say that surely Xbox and Microsoft can find a way to implement some form of Family Plan that can still satisfy the vast majority of publishers, and it'll be interesting to see if Asha Sharma makes it happen!
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