How to cancel Xbox Game Pass or disable auto renew

If you're one of many players who jumped on a free month of Microsoft's game subscription service, you'll want to know how to cancel your Xbox Game Pass. The service is set to auto renew even after free or discounted months are redeemed, meaning gamer's credit cards could get an undesired charge. Here's how and when to cancel an Xbox Game Pass and more information on how to disable automatic renewal.

How to cancel Xbox Game Pass

Players who want to cancel their Xbox Game Pass or disable the automatical renewal function have to make use of the official Xbox support website. Before going any further, there are a few restrictions worth mentioning. The first is that users cannot cancel their Xbox Game Pass if it is suspended or has a past-due balance; the account must be paid and in good standing to be canceled. The second is that prepaid subscriptions cannot be canceled; they expire automatically at the end of the subscription period.

Here's the procedure to cancel an Xbox Game pass according to the Xbox support page to Cancel or turn off a recurring billing.

To cancel Xbox Game Pass:

Go to the Microsoft Account page for Services and subscriptions and sign in if required.
Find the relevant subscription, in this case for Xbox Game Pass.
Select Payment and billing, then Cancel.
Select Confirm cancellation to end the subscription. A confirmation email will be sent to the account holder's email address.

Do note that free Xbox Game Pass subscriptions must be canceled within 30 days or the account will auto-renew. If automatic renewal is allowed to occur, the account will be extended for the full subscription period and user's account will be charged. Fortunately, disabling auto renewal doesn't take too much effort.

How to disable auto renewal on Xbox Game Pass

Assuming it's been at least 30 days since owners purchased an Xbox Game Pass subscription, they'll be able to disable auto renewal on their account. Here's how the process works:

Head over to the Microsoft account page for Services and subscriptions. Sign in if required.
Find the relevant subscription, then select Payment and billing, Change, and Turn off recurring billing.
Select Confirm cancellation to disable automatic renewal. A confirmation email will be sent.

It only takes a little bit of time to cancel an Xbox Game Pass or disable automatic renewal. Given that Microsoft has been offering two months of Xbox Game Pass for two dollars, it's likely that loads of new gamers are checking out the service. For those who don't plan to stick around, at least it isn't hard to cancel the service. For more details about Microsoft's video game subscription service, head over to Shacknews' Xbox Game Pass home page.