Free Xbox Game Pass Upgrade Leaves Subscribers Frustrated

Xbox Game Pass subscribers are rightfully disappointed by a new free upgrade to their memberships, which doesn’t feel like an upgrade at all.

Recently, Xbox has been on what can only be considered a generational comeback after fears it was going to give up console manufacturing and become a third-party game studio.

The company has done a complete U-turn on its previous business strategy and made a lot of great changes to its services, most notably slashing the price of Xbox Game Pass.

This was done to give subscribers more value for less money, though one of the latest freebies added to the service doesn’t add much value at all.

Xbox Game Pass Partners With Discord Nitro, But Not In A Way That Matters

Xbox and Discord have launched a new partnership that sees Discord Nitro subscribers gain free access to 50 Xbox Game Pass titles in addition to 10 hours of cloud-streaming.

Many Xbox users rightfully wanted to know if any benefits would come to console owners, and they are, but they’ve left us wanting more.

On 27 May, Xbox confirmed that current Game Pass subscribers will gain “Discord Nitro benefits,” including: 250 Orbs per month, extra Orbs when you win Quests automatically, and Shop discounts. Xbox and Discord are joining forces to give Nitro a major upgrade.”

hey chat, you’re gonna want to see this 👀

your Game Pass subscription comes with Discord Nitro benefits like…

💎 250 Orbs per month
🏆 extra Orbs when you win Quests
🛍️ automatic Shop discounts

just link your Game Pass account in Discord to activate! pic.twitter.com/OvusJrkfYE

— XBOX Game Pass (@XBOXGamePass) May 27, 2026

To get these benefits, all you need to do is link your Xbox account with your Discord account, which can be done via Discord’s settings.

What you won’t be getting is Discord Nitro itself. You still need to pay for that membership separately.

This is especially vexing since Discord Nitro is a controversial service that locks basic features behind a pay-wall. Higher streaming quality and file sharing past a certain threshold can’t be done on Discord without a subscription to Nitro.

The disappointment was palpable in the comment section and BlueQuoGG summed it up perfectly, saying, “Pretty lame benefits for game pass subscribers to be fair, should of also included a free server boost or something too.”

Medikamentos followed up with an interesting suggestion, asking, “Could we have this turned around? Like, instead of Fortnite Crew, we can choose to get Discord Nitro for our Game Pass Ultimate subscription.”

That honestly doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility, as it’s rumoured that Xbox is considering a ‘build-your-own’ Game Pass model going forward.

It’d give subscribers more control over what they’re paying by allowing them to cut out the benefits they don’t want/need. Fortnite Crew is a good example, as while it’s a nice bonus for those who actually play Epic Games’ battle-royale, it’s a useless add-on for those who don’t.

We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds, but for now it’s safe to say this Discord Nitro partnership isn’t what fans expected at all.