One of the most accessible trial runs that Microsoft ever offered has come to an unfortunate end. The company has announced that effective immediately, the Xbox Game Pass $1 Subscription Trial has been ended and removed from the Xbox Store. The trial, which has been around since Ultimate first launched in 2019, was considered the be all end all trial for Microsoft’s massive online subscription service. It was also one of the most abused trials ever, as people often used a loophole due to the Xbox Live Gold conversion rate in order to rack up an Ultimate subscription service for several years and pay next to nothing for it.

Microsoft says it has stopped its Xbox Game Pass $1 trial offer https://t.co/jMobl8s61D

“We have stopped our previous introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/PC Game Pass and are evaluating different marketing promotions for new members in the future” pic.twitter.com/RY8x25YSZ7

— Wario64 (@Wario64) March 27, 2023

In a statement made with The Verge, Microsoft Head of Global Communications at Xbox Kari Perez said that the reason for the trial service being removed was in order to try new things out for other marketing desires. “We have stopped our previous introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass and are evaluating different marketing promotions for new members in the future” Perez said in the statement. As far as marketing to consumers go, it’s fairly difficult to get better than a trial service for just $1, so it’ll be interesting to see just what Microsoft has in store for those new “marketing promotions”.

While Microsoft does not explicitly state this, it’s entirely possible that the company decided to end the offer solely due to the Gold conversion loophole. Still, this offer only truly affects those who are new to Game Pass Ultimate, and has absolutely no affect on current subscribers. Therefore, if you’ve already stacked Gold into the Game Pass conversion, then you’re good to go for the allotted time you’ve purchased. Hopefully Microsoft comes up with some exciting promotions for future Game Pass subscriptions in the foreseeable future.