From seemingly out of nowhere, Microsoft revealed the “Xbox Game Pass” today. For $9.99 a month, Xbox users can play over 100 available Xbox One and backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles, in their entirety, as often as they like. Notably, users can download the full versions of the game thus removing any requirements around streaming or bandwidth speed/consistency. Additionally, subscribers will receive 20% off the purchase of the game should they want to permanently add it to their library while also receiving 10% off of add-ons and DLC for the titles. Microsoft later added that this will in no way impact Games with Gold and Xbox Live Gold members will continue to receive all the benefits they do today.
You can find the full blog directly from Microsoft here: Xbox Game Pass Announcement
Our Take
Well this was a surprise. We have to wonder if this was an announcement they were saving for E3 but with Switch and Horizon Zero Dawn receiving so much fanfare, Microsoft pulled the trigger early to announce something big for their fans. Regardless of the reason, this is pretty large news and is the closest thing we’ve seen to Netflix style service for games. If Microsoft markets this correctly, and offers discounts for long term subscribers, we believe this could be a big hit for Xbox gamers.
