Xbox Game Pass Released Today [It's Basically Netflix For Games]
This week the folks at Microsoft behind the Xbox One have released the Netflix subscription model in a game program called Xbox Game Pass. As revealed earlier this year, Xbox Game Pass allows the subscriber to access "over 100 Xbox One and Backward Compatible Xbox 360 games" for right around $10 a month. It's easy to envision a service such as this replacing the traditional one-time-cost model that's been in place since the beginning of games – save the additional barrier in-between there and here.
That extra barrier is Xbox One's Xbox Live account subscription cost. The first wave of access with a 14-day trial goes to Xbox Live Gold members. To gain access to Xbox Live Gold requires a subscription cost of either $10 a month, $25 for 3 months, or $60 for 12 months. That'll begin on May 24th, 2017 – that's today!
For everyone else – the people that don't pay extra cash to get Xbox Live Gold – Xbox Game Pass will begin to be available on June 1st. That'll also include a 14-day free trail. At that time, the "play over 100 games" bit will be in play as well. At that time, subscriptions to Xbox Game Pass will begin to be available.
Xbox Game Pass will be available for $10 a month – at first. It's expected that once Microsoft starts working with retailers and putting gift cards on hooks at stores, costs will go down ever-so-slightly. If they run deals like they do with Xbox Live Gold, that is to say.
Featured Xbox Game Pass games available now include:
• Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage
• Halo 5: Guardians
• LEGO Batman
• NBA 2K16
• PAYDAY 2: CRIMEWAVE EDITION
• BioShock Infinite
• Saints Row IV: Re-Elected
• Mega Man Legacy Collection
There's also a bunch of ID@Xbox Indy games available in the program, like JumpJet Rex, Layers of Fear, #IDARB, Mega Coin Squad, and OlliOlli. This program begins today – and while not all the games that'll be available eventually are available today, a bunch have already arrived. For free, it's worth a tap.