Microsoft is following in the footsteps of other subscription-based video game services, and will soon be offering a monthly subscription service that will give users access to a selection of titles for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. For $9.99 a month, subscribers can play from a catalog of 100 games, some of which will include Halo 5, Payday 2, Mad Max, Gears of War, and SoulCalibur II. This will not be a streaming service, and will instead allow you to download the titles and play them directly on your console. Some of the 100 games will shuffle in and out each month, meaning there will always be a new selection of games to choose from. The service is set to launch this Spring. If you are part of the Xbox Insider Program, some select users have been chosen to test this feature today, February 28, 2017. Xbox Live Gold Members will also get early access to the program, closer to when it officially launches.

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At Xbox, we put gamers at the center of everything we do and remain committed to giving you the freedom to play the games you want, with the friends you want, on the devices you want. This year is shaping up to be an exciting one for gamers. As we prepare to launch Project Scorpio this holiday, bringing the most powerful console ever made to the Xbox One family of devices, we continue to make platform improvements to connect the growing community of players on Xbox Live and add to a robust and diverse portfolio of games across Xbox One and Windows 10.

Today, we’re continuing our commitment to give you more options to diversify and expand your library of games with Xbox Game Pass, a new gaming subscription service coming later this spring. Xbox Game Pass gives you unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and backward compatible Xbox 360 games – all for $9.99 per month.

With great games from top industry publishers such as 2K, 505 Games, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, Capcom, Codemasters, Deep Silver, Focus Home Interactive, SEGA, SNK CORPORATION, THQ Nordic GmbH, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Microsoft Studios, there’s something for everyone to enjoy and you will always find something exciting to play across a variety of genres. Some of the fan-favorite titles coming to Xbox Game Pass when it launches to the broader Xbox community later this spring include Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, NBA 2K16 and SoulCalibur II.

One of the best things about Xbox Game Pass is that you can discover and download the full titles directly on your Xbox One. That means continuous, full-fidelity gameplay without having to worry about streaming, bandwidth or connectivity issues. In addition, all Xbox One games in the catalog – and related add-ons – will be available to purchase at an exclusive discount for Xbox Game Pass members, so you can make the games you love part of your permanent library to play whenever you want. Every month new games will cycle into the subscription with some cycling out, giving you a constantly-updating library of games. Xbox Game Pass is your ticket to endless play.

It’s important to us that Xbox Game Pass provides an enjoyable and seamless experience. Before the program rolls out to the broader community later this spring, we’ll be testing Xbox Game Pass with select members of the Xbox Insider Program in the Alpha Preview ring starting today with a very limited number of titles. The titles that are available in Preview are just a small glimpse at the expansive catalog of games that will be available when Xbox Game Pass launches this spring. Xbox Live Gold members will also be receiving exclusive access to Xbox Game Pass prior to the program launching to the broader community. We’ll have more details on timing closer to launch.

We hope you enjoy Xbox Game Pass and all that it has to offer. We’re looking forward to hearing the feedback from the gamers in the Xbox Insider Program and then from the rest of the Xbox community when it’s broadly available later this spring. Your feedback will make this program better for all gamers.

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[Bladexdsl]

why are they even bothering with xbox all their games are on PC now

 

[CeeDee]

I'd totally buy a pass like this for Nintendo. But Nintendo, being Nintendo, won't do that.

 

[VashTS]

if this included xbox live gold - i'd be in. im assuming iits 9.99 + cost of gold. fuck that.

 

[codezer0]

why are they even bothering with xbox all their games are on PC now

Not all of them, annoyingly.

 

[Chary]

if this included xbox live gold - i'd be in. im assuming iits 9.99 + cost of gold. fuck that.

Seems like it's for everyone, as they mention that Gold users "get the service earlier"

why are they even bothering with xbox all their games are on PC now

The newer ones are, for sure, but older games like Halo, and all the 360 BC games that are console exclusive probably won't come to PC. I wish they would though!

I'd totally buy a pass like this for Nintendo. But Nintendo, being Nintendo, won't do that.

Nintendo guy: "Hey look at what all the other companies are doing! It's a really cool ide---"
NOJ/NOA: "No. We don't like money nor following modern trends!"

 

[KingVamp]

So, they want you to pay for this on top of the service that should be free in the first place? How about they make plain online free and put all the extras like voice chat under game pass.

 

[flame1234]

It's a premium service double the cost of Xbox Live gold.

Better than PS Now:
1) PS Now games run remotely. That's suitable even for action games, but not for every game.
2) PS Now has only PS3 titles (not PS4). (Xbox Game Pass has Xbox 360 and Xbox One titles.)

Worse than PS Now:
1) The lowest price for PS Now is $100 per year and Xbox Game Pass would be $120 per year assuming you wanted to maintain access throughout the year.
2) Xbox Game Pass needs to download games and PS Now doesn't.

 

[Yil]

I'd totally buy a pass like this for Nintendo. But Nintendo, being Nintendo, won't do that.

Actually you should blame Nvidia in case the switch don't have it.

 

[tech3475]

I wonder what this means for games with gold? At least in terms of quality.

 

[duffmmann]

This is actually a pretty cool service, the type of service I've thought these companies should have been doing for a while now with their modern games and not just previous gen games.

Hell if Nintendo did this with just their VC games, that would work for me, I'd be in.

 

[T-hug]

Here are some screens. My friend said there are around 30 titles so far but obviously that's just for the test phase:



This is actually going to be pretty sweet and what a lot of gamers have asked for for ages, a true 'Netflix for games'.
PSNow is only PS3 games afaik and can't compete with this service.

 

[netovsk]

And this, along with EA access support, along with good games giveaways every now and then (witcher 2, lost odyssey), along with backwards compatibility, along with a controller battery that lasts 20+ hours, along with better prices for games, along with good games with gold games is one more reason to why I love my Xbox one and my PS4 has been collecting dust since I decided to try Microsoft's console.

Way to go Xbox!!!

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Xbox LIVE Gold
Xbox EA Access

And now Xbox Game Pass. Putting aside the fact they're all paid monthly/yearly subscriptions they're great but at the same time gaming is losing its essence of what it used to be.

Before, watching shows and films was on VHS, DVD and on the TV and now, it's on Netflix, Hulu and the likes. Not to mention 'backup' and backup copies which are very convenient.

 

[netovsk]

It's a premium service double the cost of Xbox Live gold.

Better than PS Now:
1) PS Now games run remotely. That's suitable even for action games, but not for every game.
2) PS Now has only PS3 titles (not PS4). (Xbox Game Pass has Xbox 360 and Xbox One titles.)

Worse than PS Now:
1) The lowest price for PS Now is $100 per year and Xbox Game Pass would be $120 per year assuming you wanted to maintain access throughout the year.
2) Xbox Game Pass needs to download games and PS Now doesn't.

There is nothing worse than PS Now. There is no balance here, this just humiliates sony's service.

1) Costs 20% more but offers games which cost 200% more.

2) You need a pretty good stable connection to stream games, but not necessarily for downloading them so it's another advantage.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Here are some screens. My friend said there are around 30 titles so far but obviously that's just for the test phase:

View attachment 79903 View attachment 79904 View attachment 79905

This is actually going to be pretty sweet and what a lot of gamers have asked for for ages, a true 'Netflix for games'.
PSNow is only PS3 games afaik and can't compete with this service.

Xbox One's exclusive games' list is extremely weak compared to PS4 but this service is looking like a handsome beast that will make Sony rethink about PS Now.

 

[MeAndHax]

"Endless Play"

Yeah. Right...
One month later..

 

[Deleted member 333767]

It doesn't roll off the tongue as well as PlayStation Plus does

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

It doesn't roll off the tongue as well as PlayStation Plus does

Xbox LIVE Gold is PS Plus' rival, Xbox Game Pass is to PS Now.

 

[VashTS]

Seems like it's for everyone, as they mention that Gold users "get the service earlier"

I was referring to just the price - if it's 9.99/month, i want gold + xbox now service for that price. if they offered a bundled price, i'd even consider it - like $99 up front and you get both gold and the games service for the year. if not - i'll stick to gold and my free games each month, fine with me.

i assume you can be gold or non-gold and still buy it since you are giving them $.