Today, Microsoft announced a new Xbox subscription service in an attempt to get more of us playing games on the Xbox One, and in turn generate more revenue from the company's struggling console.
It's called Xbox Game Pass and costs $9.99. In return for your $10 every month, Microsoft guarantees unlimited access to over 100 titles taken from the Xbox One and Xbox 360 game libraries. There's no streaming involved here. The games you choose to play through Xbox Game Pass will be downloaded to your Xbox One.
Each month, new games will be added to the service and some will be removed, As well as Microsoft Studios' own games, publishers signing up to take part include 2K, 505 Games, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Capcom, Codemasters, Deep Silver, Focus Home Interactive, Sega, SNK, THQ Nordic, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
As an added bonus, Microsoft promises to offer an "exclusive discount" on any Xbox Game Pass titles a subscriber chooses to purchase. That includes any related DLC packs or other add-ons for a game. How big these discounts are has not been revealed.
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Xbox Game Pass is set to launch later this spring, but before then Microsoft intends to test it through the Xbox Insider Program in the Alpha Preview ring. Select gamers will gain access to a small set of games to test how well the system works. When it does launch, Xbox Live Gold subscribers will gain access to it first.
The subscription service will sit alongside Xbox Live Gold, which itself costs $60. Signing up to both will see you paying Microsoft $179.88 every year to play games, but that cost may in fact replace your need to purchase any games. How popular Xbox Game Pass turns out to be depends on which games make it on to the service, and in particular how new those titles are.
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