As part of the reduction in price for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate that was announced yesterday, there's also been a change to the conversion rates that apply when you go from a different tier of Game Pass over to Game Pass Ultimate.
If you didn't know already, you can buy prepaid memberships for the likes of Xbox Game Pass Essential, Premium and PC Game Pass and then convert them to Ultimate if you want to, but because those other memberships aren't as valuable as Ultimate, you don't get a straight 1:1 conversion.
Instead, Xbox now says the following conversion rates will apply when upgrading to Game Pass Ultimate:
When you upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, we’ll convert any prepaid time you have on Xbox Game Pass or EA Play subscriptions and apply it toward Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at the current conversion ratio, up to a maximum of 36 months.
- Xbox Game Pass Essential conversion percentage: 45% of your remaining time will convert to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate time and be rounded up to the next full day. For example, 90 days remaining of Xbox Game Pass Essential will convert to 40 days of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate time.
- PC Game Pass conversion percentage: 60% of your remaining time will convert to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and be rounded up to the next full day. For example, 90 days remaining of PC Game Pass will convert to 54 days of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate time.
- Xbox Game Pass Premium conversion ratio: 65% of your remaining time will convert to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and be rounded up to the next full day. For example, 90 days remaining of Xbox Game Pass Premium will convert to 59 days of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate time.
- Game Pass for Console conversion ratio: 50% of your remaining time will convert to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and be rounded up to the next full day. For example, 90 days remaining of Xbox Game Pass Premium will convert to 45 days of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate time.
- EA Play conversion percentage: 25% of your remaining time will convert to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and be rounded up to the next full day. For example, 90 days remaining of EA Play will convert to 22 days of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate time.
So, what's different about this compared to before? If we go back to October 2025 when the conversion rates last changed, we can see that Essential now converts at 45% rather than 40%, PC Game Pass converts at 60% rather than 65%, Premium converts at 65% rather than 55%, Game Pass for Console converts at 50% rather than 55%, and EA Play converts at 25% rather than 20%.
The best way to compare this is probably to look at the "what you get" lists for each type of Xbox Game Pass membership when upgrading to Ultimate, comparing how they were in October to how they are now in April.
Firstly, here's what you used to get back in October 2025:
Old Game Pass Ultimate Conversion Rates (October 2025)
| Code type | What you also get |
|---|---|
| 1 month of Game Pass Core | 12 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Game Pass Core | 32 days of Ultimate (1+ month) |
| 6 months of Game Pass Core | 54 days of Ultimate (1 month) |
| 12 months of Game Pass Core | 91 days of Ultimate (3+ months) |
| 24 months of Game Pass Core | 183 days of Ultimate (6+ months) |
| 1 month of Gold | 12 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Gold | 32 days of Ultimate (1+ month) |
| 6 months of Gold | 54 days of Ultimate (1 month) |
| 12 months of Gold | 91 days of Ultimate (3+ months) |
| 24 months of Gold | 183 days of Ultimate (6+ months) |
| 1 month of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 12 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console |
36 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 6 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console |
72 days of Ultimate (2+ months) |
| 12 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console |
146 days of Ultimate (4+ months) |
| 24 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console |
292 days of Ultimate (9+ months) |
| 1 month of PC Game Pass |
20 days of Ultimate |
| 6 months of PC Game Pass |
117 days of Ultimate (3+ months) |
| 1 month of EA Play |
6 days of Ultimate |
| 6 months of EA Play |
36 days of Ultimate |
| 12 months of EA Play |
2 months of Ultimate |
And now, here's a look at the new list for April 2026:
New Game Pass Ultimate Conversion Rates (April 2026)
| Code type | What you also get |
|---|---|
| 1 month of Game Pass Core or Game Pass Essential | 14 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Game Pass Core or Game Pass Essential | 33 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 6 months of Game Pass Core or Game Pass Essential | 53 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 12 months of Game Pass Core or Game Pass Essential | 105 days of Ultimate (3+ months) |
| 24 months of Game Pass Core or Game Pass Essential | 209 days of Ultimate (6+ months) |
| 1 month of Game Pass Standard or Game Pass Premium | 20 days of Game pass Ultimate |
| 2 months of Game Pass Standard or Game Pass Premium | 39 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 3 months of Game Pass Standard or Game Pass Premium | 59 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 1 month of Gold | 14 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Gold | 33 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 6 months of Gold | 53 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 12 months of Gold | 105 days of Ultimate (3+ months) |
| 24 months of Gold | 209 days of Ultimate (6+ months) |
| 1 month of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 15 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 45 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 6 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 90 days of Ultimate (3 months) |
| 12 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 180 days of Ultimate (6 months) |
| 24 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 360 days of Ultimate (9+ months) |
| 1 month of PC Game Pass | 18 days of Ultimate |
| 6 months of PC Game Pass | 108 days of Ultimate (3+ months) |
| 1 month of EA Play | 8 days of Ultimate |
| 6 months of EA Play | 45 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
| 12 months of EA Play | 50 days of Ultimate (1+ months) |
As you can see, these aren't major changes by any means, but for the most part you're getting extra time on your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership when converting over — which makes sense considering Ultimate is now cheaper.
In terms of upgrading to Game Pass Premium, the official Xbox Support website doesn't suggest anything has changed, but we have spotted a suggestion that the rates might have quietly improved for that tier as well, as seen below:
That one might just be a coincidence, but we'll let you know if we hear anything more about Game Pass Premium specifically. For now, it's only Game Pass Ultimate's conversion rates that have officially changed according to Xbox.