Xbox Live Gold Family Pack subscribers to get individual accounts

Microsoft will begin changing Xbox Live Gold Family Pack accounts into individual Xbox Live Gold accounts from the end of August, the company has said.

Xbox Live Gold Family Pack accounts will begin transitioning from August 27. Microsoft introduced the Xbox Live Gold Family Pack in November 2010, allowing one primary account holder to share Xbox Live Gold features with up to three family members.

Each individual Gold account will have the remaining subscription time on the former Family Pack account, alongside three extra months.

After transitioning into individual Gold accounts, activity monitoring features will no longer be available. These allowed parents to keep track of what their children were playing, but Microsoft says its parental control settings will still be available.

Microsoft will also be removing the ability for the parent account to allocate Microsoft points to other accounts. Microsoft points themselves will also be phased out alongside the next Xbox dashboard update.

The option to purchase Xbox Live Gold Family Pack subscriptions was removed earlier in the year, meaning the imminent conversion will apply only to existing accounts.

The company also recently reintroduced the ability to share games with family and friends to the Xbox One, which launches later in the year.

For more information on the switch, check out Microsoft's official FAQ on the matter.