Today, Discord and Xbox announced an expanded partnership that puts Xbox Game Pass at the center of Discord Nitro’s new benefits program. Starting now, Discord Nitro members get a starter edition of Xbox Game Pass at no additional cost, and later this month, eligible Xbox Game Pass subscribers will start receiving Discord Nitro perks of their own. It’s a two-way exchange of value between two services that have been quietly working together for years, and the timing isn’t coincidental given the major shifts happening on the Xbox side of things.
The new Nitro Rewards program rolls out in waves over the coming weeks. Members get access to a starter edition of Xbox Game Pass with over 50 games to download and play on PC or console, plus 10 hours of cloud gaming each month. The library includes titles like Fallout 4, Stardew Valley, DayZ, Deep Rock Galactic, Overcooked 2, and Grounded, with new games added periodically. Nitro members also get gear discounts from Logitech G (up to 30 percent off), SteelSeries (15 percent), and KontrolFreek (20 percent), along with 250 Orbs every month and a multiplier on Quest rewards. The Nitro membership price isn’t changing, which makes this a straightforward upgrade for existing subscribers.
On the Xbox side, eligible Game Pass subscribers will start receiving Nitro benefits later this month. Those perks include 250 Discord Orbs each month, a 1.2x multiplier on Orbs earned through Quests, and automatically applied Discord Shop discounts. Xbox hasn’t clarified yet which Game Pass tiers qualify for these benefits or how the rollout works, but more details are expected in the coming weeks. Discord also added a new in-app shortcut that lets you jump straight into Game Pass titles when you see a friend playing one.
This is the latest in a string of moves from new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over from longtime Xbox boss Phil Spencer in February. Since taking the role, Sharma has cut Game Pass Ultimate’s price from $29.99 to $22.99, removed Call of Duty from day one access, and made a series of leadership changes aimed at repositioning Xbox around player value. Bundling Game Pass into Discord Nitro fits squarely into that strategy. Nitro costs $9.99 per month, and a starter edition of Game Pass on its own has been rumored at a similar price point, so for anyone already paying for Nitro, the math is hard to argue with.
The bigger question is what this means for Game Pass subscriber numbers long term. Microsoft last shared a public Game Pass subscriber count of 34 million back in 2024, and the company has been quiet on the metric ever since. A free-with-Nitro starter tier is going to drive a meaningful number of new sign-ups, but those subscribers aren’t paying for Game Pass directly, which complicates how Xbox measures success. Sharma has already signaled that the Xbox business is in for a broader rethink, and this partnership is just the latest example of her willingness to try things that previous leadership wouldn’t have. Of course, this is all assuming the partnership wasn’t already in motion with the previous regime.
