Xbox replacing Family Pack with Home Gold sub

The Xbox Live Family Pack membership tier will be split into individual Xbox Live Gold subscriptions from August 27, pending the launch of an umbrella scheme Home Gold on the upcoming Xbox One.

The Xbox Live Family Pack membership tier will be split into individual Xbox Live Gold subscriptions from August 27, pending the launch of an umbrella scheme Home Gold on the upcoming Xbox One.

Home Gold 'allows anyone in your home to enjoy many Gold features, like multiplayer, access to Gold entertainment apps, and more on your Xbox One,' according to Microsoft's FAQ on the change.

Meanwhile, each previous member of the Family Pack plan sticking with Xbox 360 will see their old user profile become a standard Xbox Live Gold sub, each credited with the amount of months that had remained on the Family account, plus an extra three months free.

The Home Gold feature works by covering 'a single, designated Xbox One console in a Gold member's home.'

'It will enable any Xbox Live Gold member on Xbox One to extend many Gold features to others at no additional cost,' wrote Microsoft's Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten on Xbox.com. 'One Xbox Live Gold account delivering great benefits to everyone in the home.'

The Xbox Live Gold Family Pack subscription combined four Xbox Live Gold memberships for less than the price of two -- $99 per year as opposed to $59 each -- but did not tie benefits to a particular console.