Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a substantial price increase for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. If you’re a subscriber in the US, you will now be charged $30/month, a $10 bump from the previous $20/month rate. The new price is effective immediately, so you may have already paid the increased rate if you were billed already this month. That said, there is a way to avoid the price increase: prepaid codes. The price of prepaid membership codes hasn’t changed–at least not yet. Over at Amazon, you can get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 3-Month Membership codes for $55 (was $60), which breaks down to $18.33/month. Based on Microsoft’s new subscription price, you’re saving $35 across three months.
1-Month prepaid codes are sold for $20 at Amazon, so you’re saving an additional five bucks every three months with Amazon’s deal. Amazon’s prepaid codes can be redeemed by existing and new subscribers with a US Xbox account. Once you enter a prepaid code, your next billing date is pushed. So if you redeem a 3-Month Membership in October, you won’t be billed again by Microsoft until January.
The discount on prepaid codes becomes more glaring if you buy multiple. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can be stacked up to 36 months. For instance, if you were to buy four prepaid 3-Month codes, you’d save $140 on a full year of Game Pass Ultimate. Here’s a breakdown of the savings from buying Amazon’s prepaid code deal versus subscribing directly through Microsoft. Note: The numbers in the Amazon column are based on the 3-Month Membership deal, but even if the price jumps back to $60, you’re still saving a ton of cash.