According to an email sent out from Xbox they will be getting rid of the Gold Family plan for Xbox Live starting on August 27th. Their Family Plan allowed up to four people to have access to the Xbox Live program for a discounted rate. One of the four was the master account holder.
I have been having my suspicions that the Family Plan was on the way out the door due to statements about a single Live account acting in a similar fashion as the Family Plan. As I suspected, that is the purpose behind the changes. Now, one account will allow anyone using your box to have access to Gold privileges as if they were a member themselves. Likewise, if you go to a friends house and sign in to your Gold account and they do not have a Gold account, while you are there and signed in they too will have access to your privileges.
It's not a shabby deal. Instead of having to buy a four pack of Gold memberships at a discounted rate of four individual accounts you will only need to buy a single account which is cheaper than the four pack anyways. Plus, unlike the Family Plan you get to share it with as many people who are on your box, and however many use any box your account is actively signed in to.
Additionally, when they split up the Family Plan and turn each person on those plans into an active individual account they are awarding an additional three months of Gold membership. That equals three months of free Gold access for four people.
The only feature to be lost will be the ability to look in on what the other members of the Family Plan have been doing. A feature I have never used anyway. You can still control what your kids play and how long they play by the features on your box.
Finally, all memberships will work on the 360 AND the One.
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