Coming this autumn to the Xbox One, the Xbox Game Pass will give console owners access to over 100 Xbox One and backwards compatible games for $10.95 a month.
The Xbox Game Pass is not a streaming service, like PlayStation Now, but a game download subscription along the lines of EA Access. Subscribers who pay the $10.95 monthly fee will be able to choose from games like Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, NBA 2K16 and SoulCalibur II (examples given in Microsoft’s official announcement,) downloading them directly to their system and playing them as if they were purchased digitally. Subscribers will be able to purchase the games in the catalogue at a discount (20 per cent off games, 10 per cent off add-ons), adding them permanently to their Xbox library.
The Xbox Game Pass will start rolling out today to select members of the Xbox Insider program, with plans to launch exclusively for Xbox Live Gold subscribers before going live for all Xbox One owners this autumn.
Looking at the image provided above, we also have Saint’s Row 4, The Mega Man Collection, Terraria, Mad Max, LEGO Batman, Fable 3 and several fading box arts to look forward to.
Sound like a good deal?
Update 9:07AM: Australian pricing has been confirmed since publication – this article has been edited accordingly.
Comments
24 responses to “Microsoft Unveils $10.95 Monthly Gaming Subscription Service For Xbox One”
Pretty easy way to get an instant library and at least makes some sense compared to EA Access. Still, I prefer owning my copies.
Having a big backlog and preferring to own physical copies makes this pretty unappetising for me. I’ve already got hundreds of games I haven’t played yet. Why would I want access to even more?
Id use this service purely for the fact that I might want to play co-op with some one that has a game I don’t.
Well then it isn’t for you? Why does every service have to have something for someone in it? Move along.
LOL, so it isn’t for me and I’m not allowed to comment?
no
For 100 games, that comes out 10c a game a month. Makes no less sense than paying for XB Gold or PS Now.
That used to be my thinking, but then I thought, why would I want to have access to so many games without the time to play them. You’d have to look at the games and decide if there were enough games that (a) you wanted to play, and (b) you could play within a given time period, to make it a worthwhile value proposition.
Why not? There are some games I have wanted to try but not buy, and there are no video game rental places around anymore
There’s one in West Ryde 🙂
Sounds like a great deal. Even if you only play 5 games a month you’re only paying $2 each for the ability, and if you like it you can buy the full copy for 20% off, which is going to save you a lot more than that $2 you spent. Or you get to try games you would have passed on paying full price for and maybe discover some hidden gems. What’s not to like?
Exactly. Even if you only play one game a month, it’s still cheaper than buying 12 games a year.
They used to have free demos for that…
I used to enjoy demos too, but they don’t make sense in the modern market. They’re increased development cost/time and tend to result in lower sales. And often they weren’t really reliable representations of what the full game was like.
I’m not sure demos are a fair comparison to this service either. A free demo gives you a small slice of the game to see if you like it, a service like this gives you multiple entire games for you to complete as you like for a fraction the price of a single game. I’d rather something like this over free demos, to be honest.
Especially when a demo is 20GB of download….
You play five games a month?!
I’d be lucky to get through one a month, if that. I do tend to gravitate towards longer games though.
I like to mix up my gaming so no one title gets stale or outstays its welcome. Still, even if you play just one game and take three full months to finish it, you’re still looking at half what it would have cost retail. On the other hand, you can get a pretty good idea if it’s a game you want to own permanently in the first month and take advantage of the 20% discount early.
I hope this doesn’t mean they’re stopping Games with Gold.
They are not stopping gwg
Yay options
I’ll wait to firm up that Australian pricing before I consider it a good deal. AU$13 isn’t bad, but chances are it’ll push closer to AU$20 after the economists are finished with us …
(Trump’s first State of the Union + Economic growth figures are being released today, expect the market to shift).
Seems the Australian price is $10.95/month. That’s a pretty damn good price, all things considered.
I’m super … super happy with that pricing. I take everything back I ever said mean about Economists.
$10.95? Sold. Shame that the market will be segmented, with EA access. Still, ~$17 a month is about what I pay for Spotify, so still not a bad deal.
I legit may buy an Xbone for this. Its perfect for some1 like me who generally doesn’t have time to complete AAA games and prefers to just dip in and out. Just have to try explain to the wife why we need a PS4 and an Xbone