Following a limited trial in the Xbox Insider Program, all Xbox One owners with a subscription to Xbox Live Gold can now check out Xbox Game Pass early. It is the company’s new monthly subscription service for playing 100-plus Xbox One and backward compatible Xbox 360 games. Game Pass doesn’t officially launch to the masses until June 1, thus Microsoft is now giving Gold members a sneak peek and a headstart on the 14-day free trial.
Microsoft’s subscription service may appear to compete with directly Sony’s PlayStation Now service, but the two are completely different animals. On the Sony front, gamers on the PlayStation 4 and Windows PC can stream more than 450 PS3 and PS4 games for $20 each month ($50 for three months). Meanwhile, Microsoft’s new service provides just over 100 games for $10 a month, but they are downloaded for local play on the Xbox One console.
For the Xbox One, Microsoft’s new subscription service dishes out a number of popular titles including Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Halo 5: Guardians, Mad Max, and Sunset Overdrive. So far, there are 40 titles developed for the Xbox One console in the subscription, addressing multiple genres spanning action, simulation, platforming, and so on.
Here what we have at launch:
As for the Xbox 360 titles, Microsoft’s library is substantially larger with 72 games. This portion includes big hitters such as the BioShock trilogy, Borderlands, Fable III, all four Gears of War titles, LEGO Batman, Sacred 3, and XCOM: Enemy Within. There are a lot to choose from, as the library covers a wider range of genres including RPG and Action/RPG.
Here is the full Xbox 360 list:
Note that both libraries are not set in stone, as Microsoft plans to swap out games each month so the two libraries remain somewhat fresh. Subscribers who want to continue playing a game before it is pulled from the subscription can purchase a digital copy with a 20 percent price reduction, and a 10 percent price reduction on all related add-ons.
Microsoft plans to offer a “retail” version of the Xbox Game Pass later this year.
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