Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Pass for PC

Derangel

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There have been rumors of Microsoft creating a more PC-specific version of Game Pass for a little bit and today the company confirmed it. Previously, Game Pass worked on PC for Play Anywhere titles and a handful of other games but the subscription was primarily about the Xbox One. The Game Pass PC announcement was written by Xbox Head, Phil Spencer. Spencer acknowledges Microsoft's failed promises by saying

Phil Spencer said:
We’ve not always lived up to our aspiration of keeping gamers at the center of everything we do when it comes to the experience they’ve had on Windows.

Spencer doesn't offer a ton of information on Game Pass for PC, more will be revealed during Microsoft's two and half hour long E3 press conference.

*Over 100 PC games at launch

*As with Game Pass on consoles some titles will rotate in and out of the list. Think, something like Netflix where titles can vanish when deals expire.

*Bethesda, Deep Silver, Devolver Digital, Paradox, ad Sega were named as Game Pass partners along with MS' own Microsoft Game Studios, Obsidian, and inXile. Spencer promised over 75 developers and publishers are working with them on Game Pass.

*Subscribers will get a 20% discount on games from the Windows Store and a 10% discount on DLC and other add-ons.
 
This was always a better idea for consoles (where most of the time you may have only bought the thing for a few exclusives). You can buy late in life and just sign-up to this service for a few months.

For everyone else, PC game sales are so common and the discounts are so large that I just can't see the value in this. And locked-down platforms like Origin and Blizzard are not suddenly going to become unlocked just because Microsoft waved a magic wand.

The market for this is going to be tiny, because you still need the system to play the game on. Game streaming makes more sense than this.

Once again, MS is just "pretending" to support the PC.
 
This was always a better idea for consoles, where you may have only bought the thing for a few exclusives. You can buy late in life and just sign-up to this service for a few months.

For everyone else, PC game sales are so common and the discounts are so large that I just can't see the value in this. And locked-down platforms like Origin and Blizzard are not suddenly going to become unlocked just because Microsoft waved a magic want.

I think the big thing is going to be which games it has and how quickly new ones are added. If they're going to add titles from their partners on launch it could be worth it. Like, for example, if they get Doom Eternal day-and-date with its launch anyone that wants to play Eternal could get Game Pass for the same price as buying it new (assuming prices are the same as the console version) and get a bunch of other games to play for the next 12 months. Or just buy a single month of service for really cheap to play it and move on. However, if they're not getting a bunch of day-one releases (outside of MS' own titles) the value proposition drops significantly.
 
This could be a great thing for PC games. I wonder if they will be required to be UWP or whatever platform Crackdown 3 was written in. The game ran fine but I like to tinker with settings and it forced you to run inside of a window which presents a lot of problems. I've been using game pass on Xbox for as long as it has been available. Worth the $10 a month.
 
This could be a great thing for PC games. I wonder if they will be required to be UWP or whatever platform Crackdown 3 was written in. The game ran fine but I like to tinker with settings and it forced you to run inside of a window which presents a lot of problems. I've been using game pass on Xbox for as long as it has been available. Worth the $10 a month.
It will likely be tied to your Microsoft account, so using the Microsoft Store is probably a necessity. However, if I'm not mistaken I believe that the Store supports Win32 apps now in addition to UWP.
 
It will likely be tied to your Microsoft account, so using the Microsoft Store is probably a necessity. However, if I'm not mistaken I believe that the Store supports Win32 apps now in addition to UWP.

So it took MS only 8 years to realize what was apparent to everyone outside of the bubble since day one: Metro/UWP phone apps were DOA because they had no place crowbarred into a desktop OS, and Win32 programs is what the store should've been a repository for all along.
 
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This could be a great thing for PC games. I wonder if they will be required to be UWP or whatever platform Crackdown 3 was written in. The game ran fine but I like to tinker with settings and it forced you to run inside of a window which presents a lot of problems. I've been using game pass on Xbox for as long as it has been available. Worth the $10 a month.

I'm still salty about the 30fps cap for PC when playing coop in C3. I love the idea of playing these games on PC.
 
Seems like a good option but, I hardly play games anymore, even though I have a ton of games to play on my 360, One X and computers.
 
No one has mentioned anything about their streaming service. I wonder how or if this ties into it in any way.
 
Ive heard really good things about Sony's Playstation Now. I think this is the future of gaming.
 
Ive heard really good things about Sony's Playstation Now. I think this is the future of gaming.
I heard really bad things about Sony's Playstation Now. I think this is the future of toilets. Not the Japanese toilets either.
 
So it took MS only 8 years to realize what was apparent to everyone outside of the bubble since day one: Metro/UWP phone apps were DOA because they had no place crowbarred into a desktop OS, and Win32 programs is what the store should've been a repository for all along.
Eh. I don't use tons of them, but, in 10, the Calculator is infinitely better, because the 32 version wasn't good on a high dpi monitor. I"m not using it much now, but for years I used the Netflix app, because it was the only way for me to watch shit on my PC with 5.1 sound. The various applets in 10 managing the system are fine. My only complaint is that I don't believe everything that's in control panel has been migrated, but unless there's an applet missing, I just use the UWP versions. Outside of those, I think the only apps I use are Twitter (and that's pretty rare) and Nord VPN's app. That said, if they change to win32 and they have the advantages that are native to UWP, then I don't care. It's just an app.
 
Eh. I don't use tons of them, but, in 10, the Calculator is infinitely better, because the 32 version wasn't good on a high dpi monitor. I"m not using it much now, but for years I used the Netflix app, because it was the only way for me to watch shit on my PC with 5.1 sound. The various applets in 10 managing the system are fine. My only complaint is that I don't believe everything that's in control panel has been migrated, but unless there's an applet missing, I just use the UWP versions. Outside of those, I think the only apps I use are Twitter (and that's pretty rare) and Nord VPN's app. That said, if they change to win32 and they have the advantages that are native to UWP, then I don't care. It's just an app.
Oh heatless. Never change.
 
It will likely be tied to your Microsoft account, so using the Microsoft Store is probably a necessity. However, if I'm not mistaken I believe that the Store supports Win32 apps now in addition to UWP.

You're probably right, but at least in theory I can think of another path. Microsoft is making a rare smart move by acquiescing to releasing titles on Steam (there are some that could do really well there, such as Sea of Thieves, which has apparently massively improved No Mans Sky-like since its launch. Minecraft coming to Steam and fully compatible with Steam features, Workshop and the like would be neat as well), so I wonder if they could do that with GamePass as well? Perhaps Steam could create an API whereas you log in through another service that is attached to your account (ie similar to things like Twitch, BattleNet etc.. or in this case Microsoft) and if the MS account sent over "Account_Holder_GamePass = True", then all the games it pertained to would be unlocked and available on Steam (preferably with bracketed text in the list and on the game's store page that access is given through GamePass, for games' not bought outright). Steam already have ways to offer temporary or conditional access to games (ie special betas, time-limited-free-plays etc) so perhaps something like this could work?

I hope Microsoft is realizing that they're better off selling games or their service via Steam (and ideally supporting Linux, as they claim to love now...skeptical as I am that it is not embrace-extend-extinguish again). As far as gaming is concerned, Microsoft has really foundered in the last few years so I'm hoping that maybe they're wiling to make some fundamental changes . They could do very well selling games (and perhaps even GamePass) via Steam, well made peripherals, and whatnot if they start embracing openness and stop focusing so much on control and replicating whatever the "hot thing of the moment'.
 
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