Microsoft’s Xbox Live Family Pack program comes to an end on August 27, 2013, with all gamertags in each pack converting to individual Xbox Live Gold accounts. Affected users will have three months tacked on to the end of their remaining membership. Microsoft also ditches two of the Family Pack-exclusive features with the conversion: activity monitoring, which allows parents to keep an eye on their kids’ accounts; and MS Points allowances. All other parental controls remain in place.
Microsoft’s note to subscribers says that the change is meant to “prepare for new upcoming features on Xbox Live Gold.” With MS Points on their way out in exchange for Marketplace pricing that uses regional currency, the end of the allowance feature makes sense. That feature disappears with the next system update; activity monitoring, on the other hand, goes bye-bye with the August 27 conversion.
The shift follows Microsoft’s recent announcement that a single Gold account on an Xbox One allows all users on the same console to take advantage of features like online multiplayer and entertainment apps, as well as share downloaded games.
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