Xbox Game Pass has become an essential gaming service that appeals to both Xbox ecosystem regulars and newbies. Its success has been built on a very attractive price-quality ratio, with an ever-increasing catalog and compatibility with an ever-increasing number of devices.
Microsoft experienced a commercial failure with the launch of its Xbox One, completely eclipsed by Sony's PS4. The American giant, which even considered leaving the video game market following this collapse, was forced to completely overhaul its strategy to regain appeal and consumer confidence. At the heart of this strategy is the famous Xbox Game Pass, a bold gamble that is turning into a real success for Microsoft. Here's everything you need to know about it.
❓ What is Xbox Game Pass?
Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service that provides access to a catalog of video games on different types of devices. It is often described as the Netflix of video games, a comparison that has often been overused, but which is a little more true since the platform has expanded to other ecosystems and supports video game streaming.
At regular intervals, games leave and enter Game Pass, constantly renewing the catalog to continue to capture players, who can enjoy them on more and more different screens, by downloading the titles to their devices to play them locally or by launching a game directly from the cloud. We also know that the library will soon expand with the arrival of Ubisoft+ games, including the new game Rainbow Six Extraction.
Access to Game Pass games is available as long as the subscription is active. Even if you download them, the titles are no longer accessible once the subscription has expired or they have left the service.
💰 What is the price of Xbox Game Pass?
The Xbox Game Pass prices are increasing starting September 12, 2024. The Console Pass is being phased out in favor of a new plan called Standard. It has the same benefits as the Core plan, but without the Xbox exclusives on the day of their release:
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: €17.99/month instead of €12.99/month
- Xbox Game Pass Core: €69.99 for 12 months or €6.99/month
- Xbox Game Pass Standard: €12.99/month
- Xbox Game Pass PC: €11.99/month
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate combines both the console and PC offerings, and also includes other benefits, such as Xbox Cloud Gaming, the Xbox Live Gold subscription which allows you to play online and get two free games each month, and other permanent or temporary privileges such as discounts on game purchases.
The prices quoted are from the official Xbox website, but there are other, cheaper ways to acquire Game Pass time through a key system. If you use a third-party platform, make sure you are purchasing subscription time for the correct region (Europe), as some attractive offers from Brazil, Russia, or Turkey are not available here.
One way to get back long months of Game Pass Ultimate subscription at a lower price is to use the EA Play or Xbox Live Gold game time conversion to Game Pass. “When you sign up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, your prepaid time on Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Game Pass, or EA Play memberships is transferred to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at the current conversion rate, for up to 36 months. Conversion of prepaid time is final, and rates are subject to change,” Microsoft explains. And it’s often more cost-effective to sign up for Xbox Live Gold or EA Play and convert those plans to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate than to buy the subscription outright. Below, you can find the current conversion chart from Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. For EA Play, the ratio is 3:1, meaning that 12 months of EA Play membership are converted into 4 months of Game Pass Ultimate membership.
Vers une offre famille ?
In August 2022, Microsoft finally launched this version of the service in select territories. This family subscription is available for €21.99 in Colombia and Ireland, and testers will be able to add up to four people to their subscription, as long as they are in the same country.
However, it wasn't long before the Redmond company abandoned the project. On August 15, 2023, the Friends & Family plan will no longer be available at all. It will still be possible to take advantage of a free access code for the Ultimate plan if you have time left on your subscription.
💻 On which devices can you play Xbox Game Pass games?
First launched on Xbox consoles, Game Pass is now accessible to a very large number of players on a wide variety of devices. Here's a review of the roster.
Xbox One and Xbox Series X / S
Game Pass is available on all Xbox One models (original, S, X, and S All Digital) as well as the next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and Series S. The service is very well integrated into the interface and can even be considered part of the overall Xbox experience.
Windows 10 and 11 PC
On a Windows PC, you need to use the Xbox app to access Game Pass games. While on a console, there's no need to worry about your machine's ability to run a title, the question arises on a computer. Make sure your configuration is powerful enough before installing a game. Note that the app is already pre-installed if you have a Windows 11 computer.
On this subject, Microsoft recently announced upcoming changes to the Xbox app for Windows. Very soon, players will be able to choose the installation directory. This is excellent news for users with poor internet connections, who will now be able to transfer their games to an external hard drive if necessary, without having to go through the hassle of deleting and re-downloading the title. In addition, modders will finally be able to modify the game files available from the Xbox app.
Faced with the service's overwhelming success, Steam has also shown interest in it. Far from having the idea of offering its own "Steam Pass", Valve could, however, sign a partnership with Microsoft to include Game Pass games directly in its catalog. However, while Valve says it's open to such a possibility, no official discussions are currently underway.
Browsers, Android, iOS
Xbox Game Pass is also accessible from most web browsers via cloud gaming. Safari is supported, bringing the service to iPhones and iPads. To date, this is the only way to enjoy Game Pass from within Apple's ecosystem, which prevented Microsoft from publishing an app on its App Store for "security reasons." Using the browser is one way to circumvent this ban.
In June 2022, Microsoft rolled out a major update to Edge (version 103) to encourage gamers to use its browser. New features added to Edge include Clarity Boost, which improves the visual quality of console titles when using Xbox Cloud Gaming on a Windows 10 or 11 PC. In addition to improving the quality of games streamed from Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft also unveiled a new "Gaming" homepage experience in the new Edge tab, which provides personalized information and content about the games you're interested in. On Android devices, simply download the Xbox Game Pass app from the Play Store. It's also possible to use the browser, but the app has a better optimized UI and better performance. Also via Xbox Cloud Gaming, Game Pass has arrived natively on Android TV. A YouTuber tested the flexibility of the cloud gaming service by playing GTA V through the Chrome browser on an Android smartwatch. The demonstration is brilliant: it works!
🎮 Xbox Cloud Gaming: what is it and how does it work?
As explained previously, Xbox Cloud Gamingallows Microsoft to distribute its Game Pass to a much larger number of supports thanks to cloud gaming technology, streaming video games. The player does not need to install the title on their machine, nor does it need to have the appropriate technical specifications to play in good conditions. In fact, the game actually runs on Microsoft's servers, where all the calculations are performed. Then, the video and audio streams are sent back to the user's device so that they can play normally.
However, you do need a solid connection to benefit from it; fiber is highly recommended (Xbox advertises speeds of 10 Mb/s at least). Performance is also much more convincing with an Ethernet connection than with Wi-Fi. Latency remains an issue with cloud gaming, but for troubleshooting or for casual gamers, this is a good option that avoids having to buy new hardware to play the new Game Pass games.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is available on Windows and Android as an app and browser. Since April 2025, Cloud Gaming has been available on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles. Xbox Cloud Gaming is also available on Samsung Smart TVs launched in 2021 and beyond. Note that you can even stream some of the games you own outside of Game Pass.
For those still on Xbox One, this technology is a major step forward, as they will be able to try out Xbox Series X exclusives on their older consoles thanks to the Cloud. This feature was rolled out gradually with the November 2021 firmware update.
In May 2022, Fortnite became the first game offered for free on Xbox Cloud Gaming. You can enjoy the game even without an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. Microsoft says all you'll need to play (in the 26 countries where it's available) is a Microsoft account and internet access for your iOS, iPadOS, Android, or Windows device. After several months of absence, iPhone owners can finally enjoy Epic Games' title on their smartphone again.
By early 2025, Microsoft announced a record: in 2024, 140 million hours of gameplay had been streamed via the Xbox Cloud Gaming service. A success that the company owes largely to the arrival of Call of Duty Black Ops 6 on Game Pass upon its release in November 2024.
📄 What is the Xbox Game Pass game catalog?
Over the years, the Game Pass catalog has both expanded and become more complex. When we're interested in a game, we now have to pay close attention to which platform it's available on: console, PC, and cloud. Even if a game is released on Xbox and PC, for example, it may only be available on one of these platforms on Game Pass, due to rights or exclusivity issues. And availability on the cloud isn't always automatic. While, as it has for years, the official Xbox Game Pass homepage boasts that the platform offers "more than 100 games" in its catalog, it now contains many more. In 2021, no less than €5,500 worth of games and additional content were added to Xbox Game Pass. In May 2023, we were treated to some big additions, as FIFA 23 and Planet of Lana arrived on Game Pass.
Xbox Game Studios games
The big attraction of Game Pass is the integration of Xbox Game Studios games and licenses, which are available on the platform from the day they are released. Halo, Forza, Gears of War, Fable, Age of Empires, Minecraft… all the new games and content are immediately available on Game Pass. For example, Microsoft has just added the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta to Xbox Game Pass PC, but also to Steam.
With its acquisition policy, Microsoft has significantly strengthened its own studios in recent years, making Game Pass extremely attractive. And since the acquisition of Bethesda/ZeniMax, other video game icons have joined the catalog: DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Prey, Dishonored, Wolfenstein… And the highly anticipated Starfield will be available on Game Pass upon its upcoming release in 2023.
The most popular game in the history of Game Pass is Forza Horizon 4. Playground Games' racing game has achieved unprecedented success on Xbox, reaching 4.5 million players within 24 hours of launch, before reaching a record 10 million players just one week after its release.
EA Play
The Xbox Game Pass also has the entire catalog of Electronic Arts' EA Play service. It includes a certain Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Need for Speed, Battlefield, Mass Effect, numerous sports games... Not all EA titles are present, especially the most recent ones. You must subscribe to EA Play Pro to be entitled to all the latest releases like Battlefield 2042 for example.
Activision-Blizzard games
In case you missed this crucial news, Microsoft announced the acquisition of video game giant Activision-Blizzard on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, for the record sum of 60 million euros. With this historic operation, the Redmond firm is bringing under its wing no fewer than 14 additional studios, and is gaining access to particularly prolific licenses, such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. As confirmed by Phil Spencer, the head of the new Microsoft Gaming entity, many from the publisher's catalog will arrive on Xbox Game Pass once the merger between the two companies is completed.
Third-party games
Game Pass also includes a plethora of games from third-party publishers and developers. We have major industry players represented (like Sega's Yakuza series, for example), but also a good number of independent studios, with games that are sometimes less well-known than AAA behemoths, but of high quality, like Hades. Xbox sometimes makes deals with these third-party studios to get an exclusive or a day 1 release on Game Pass. This will be the case in 2022 for A Plague Tale: Requiem from the French company Focus Home Interactive, which will be available on Game Pass from the day of its release.
What's new next on Game Pass?
The entire Xbox Game Pass catalog can be viewed through this link. Filters allow you to sort results by genre, platform, features, controls, etc.
Recently, Marvel's Avengers arrived on Xbox Game Pass. And in October 2021, other titles like Back 4 Blood and Destiny 2: Beyond Light were added. One of the latest exclusives to join the catalog is none other than the famous Age of Empires 4, but this one is only available on PC. On November 5, Forza Horizon 5 made its debut, both on consoles and PC.
The big release at the end of 2021 is of course Halo Infinite (console and PC). The new episode of the saga, originally planned to be released at the same time as the Xbox Series X, arrived on Xbox Game Pass on December 8, 2021.
As for 2022, Microsoft made a big splash by announcing around a hundred games coming to Xbox Game Pass between the end of the year and the beginning of 2023. These include, for example, the arrival of Redfall, the new baby from Arkane Studios (Dishonored, Prey, Deathloop), Silksong (the long-awaited sequel to HoloKnight), Forza Motorsport 7, and Diablo IV, the new installment in Blizzard's cult franchise.
Overwatch 2 is also part of Game Pass. However, it should be noted that the competitive FPS, which is free-to-play. In other words, there's no requirement to go through the service to play it. However, the big upcoming release on Xbox Game Pass is none other than Starfield, Bethesda's next space RPG. The Fallout creators detailed the universe of this ambitious title via a long gameplay video, which allowed us to learn more about its gameplay mechanics, its story, and its combat. The title is expected in 2023, with no specific release date yet.
In January 2023, Microsoft added only 3 new games to the Xbox Game Pass catalog, namely Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Monster Hunter Rise. Don't worry about this meager selection, however, since the company confirmed that this was a "warm-up" before the arrival of many titles in 2023.
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