Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks now include freebies from an erstwhile rival. The company now offers Ultimate subscribers three-month free trials of Apple Music and Apple TV+ to newcomers for either media service. You can stream tunes in the background while you’re playing Halo Infinite, or catch up on Ted Lasso in between cloud gaming sessions.
You can claim either or both Apple trials until March 31st, 2023. They’re available on consoles and the Xbox app for Windows. You can use the promos everywhere Apple Music and Apple TV+ is available except for Russia and (for Apple TV+) Turkey.
The bonuses come weeks after Apple Music launched on Xbox consoles. In that light, the trials represent Microsoft’s chance to spread the word about availability. The company was relatively late to Apple Music, which came to the PS5 a year earlier — this makes clear that you don’t need a PlayStation to have console games and Apple streaming on the same machine.
It also comes as Apple and Microsoft have bolstered interoperability. You can now access iCloud Photos libraries in Windows 11’s native Photos app, for instance. While the tech companies still compete against each other (see Apple’s reluctance to support Game Pass streaming), they’re now willing to cooperate when it serves their mutual interests.