Xbox Game Pass, Game Pass Ultimate now Includes EA Play! [XGP, GamePass]

[BRiT]

Official Xbox Game Pass info: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/xbox-game-pass

Some interesting tidbits mostly relating to discount pricing or expirations...

Do you need to have an Xbox Live Gold membership to access Xbox Game Pass?
No, you do not need to have an Xbox Live Gold membership to access Xbox Game Pass. As with all Xbox Live titles, you will need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play multiplayer in Xbox Game Pass titles.


Discounts on Xbox One games
Love an Xbox One game and want to own it? Interested in an add-on or Season Pass for a title you’re playing in the Xbox Game Pass catalog? Save 20% on Xbox One game purchases and 10% on all related add-ons, but only while the base game is currently in the catalog.


Once I download a game with Xbox Game Pass, do I own it?
No, the Xbox Game Pass catalog will update with new games being added every month. You need an active Xbox Game Pass subscription to play games. If you love a game currently in the catalog and want to own it, you can buy it and instantly save 20 percent off the price of the base game with your Xbox Game Pass membership, plus get 10 percent off any related game add-ons and consumables while the game is still in the Xbox Game Pass catalog.


What happens if my subscription expires or I cancel?
If your subscription expires or is cancelled, any games downloaded through Xbox Game Pass will no longer be available. However, progress and achievements will remain attached to your account. All games that you have purchased from Xbox/Xbox Store will remain in your games library until you manually remove them.

 

[AzBat]

They claim to have the list of the first games which is used by XBox Insiders during beta-testing, http://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-game-pass-complete-game-list

Can confirm. Looks like you also game share your subscription just like Gold & EA Access too.

They have also added a Subscription area in My Games & Apps.

Tommy McClain

 

[Pixel]

The core gaming market has likely largely been tapped out. This is a good service to bring out to grab all the casual gamers who will jump on board over the next few years when Xbox drops to $200, then $179 etc

 

[iroboto]

The core gaming market has likely largely been tapped out. This is a good service to bring out to grab all the casual gamers who will jump on board over the next few years when Xbox drops to $200, then $179 etc

easiest way to build an instant library for anyone new to the console

 

[Pixel]

easiest way to build an instant library for anyone new to the console

And it creates an alternative for cheap-consolegaming that makes some money for platform holder and developers, unlike retailers used gaming businesses that give nothing to developers. Could help the health of the gaming industry.

Also for casual gamers introductory prices is incredibly important, and for $210 you get a console and 100+ games, it can help pull in a small fraction of the hundred of million casuals who left consoles and currently game on mobile phone only.

 

[baten]

Hopefully this is just the first step in a subscription based gaming business model. I hope we will next see a higher tier service, say 20 USD, with all games included from day 1 (or day 30, that's ok too).
Look forward to Sony's response.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Hopefully this is just the first step in a subscription based gaming business model. I hope we will next see a higher tier service, say 20 USD, with all games included from day 1 (or day 30, that's ok too).
Look forward to Sony's response.

A service like this is fantastic. But it isn't for everyone. Similar to Office 365, it makes sense to continue to offer non-subscription items where it makes sense. Especially when you consider that as outlined, this particular Service by Microsoft will be rotating games in and out of the library occasionally.

I doubt Sony will respond unless they start to lose sales to Xbox. Microsoft being behind means they are under pressure to make their console more attractive.

Regards,
SB

 

[baten]

A service like this is fantastic. But it isn't for everyone. Similar to Office 365, it makes sense to continue to offer non-subscription items where it makes sense. Especially when you consider that as outlined, this particular Service by Microsoft will be rotating games in and out of the library occasionally.

I doubt Sony will respond unless they start to lose sales to Xbox. Microsoft being behind means they are under pressure to make their console more attractive.

Regards,
SB

I dont presume that it will replace selling of new and/or individual games. But personally I would prefer to fork 20 buck per month and have access to any/every game on the platform. MS is in a better position since 360 games are playable on ONE, whereas Sony would be only offering PS4 games.
However - in the future - if next iterations of present consoles will be retrocompatible, it might be a gamechanger. I can imagine PS5 or Scorpio2 being sold on a subscription - lets say 30 dollars per month, for 3 years, with all games included.

 

[Rangers]

So do you get any discount on games NOT in the game pass program? I guess that wording means no.

Another way it's inferior to EA access then, which gives 10% discount on all digital EA game downloads.

A service like this is fantastic. But it isn't for everyone. Similar to Office 365, it makes sense to continue to offer non-subscription items where it makes sense. Especially when you consider that as outlined, this particular Service by Microsoft will be rotating games in and out of the library occasionally.

I doubt Sony will respond unless they start to lose sales to Xbox. Microsoft being behind means they are under pressure to make their console more attractive.

Regards,
SB

The main reason is Sony is currently pushing PS Now or whatever. I'm sure that could change in the medium term.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Hopefully this is just the first step in a subscription based gaming business model. I hope we will next see a higher tier service, say 20 USD, with all games included from day 1 (or day 30, that's ok too).
Look forward to Sony's response.

We have to be wary about taking the bread out of the developers' mouths! Day one games could generate a helluva lot more money than they'd get if taking a small fraction of a $20 subscription fee for that month. There's a reason Netflix doesn't have the latest cinema releases - pricing has to go day one sales -> full priced rentals -> discount rentals or the money will drop out of the market.

 

[baten]

We have to be wary about taking the bread out of the developers' mouths! Day one games could generate a helluva lot more money than they'd get if taking a small fraction of a $20 subscription fee for that month. There's a reason Netflix doesn't have the latest cinema releases - pricing has to go day one sales -> full priced rentals -> discount rentals or the money will drop out of the market.

My opinion is - game devs will actually make more money this way. Most of them, anyway. IF (big if, of course) you can convert all the XBOX/SONY ecosistem into subscription, that would be 240 bucks per year per gamer - much more than the average spent today.

 

[fehu]

I don't understand it
Actually I have the money but no time to play even two/three games at year. And anyway I have lots of others spending priorities.
I loved games, I craved games when I was a teenager, but had no money.
Who is the target? Fired young adults with some money left, no sense of responsibility, and lots of spare time?

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I wonder how much companies like these services because people sub and the forget? So they get charged 10 bucks ad infinitum for something they dont use. Nice recurring revenue stream.

Yep, they love me. I bought the yearly EA Access and just got a notice that it either has renewed or will renew. I've used it very few times, but I do check to see what games are available for install when I log in and they're all EA Access vault games. But, for example, Star Wars Battlefront was just added. A game I'd never pay full price for, but will probably download and put some hours in soon, maybe this weekend, since it's free. (Or rather I've already paid for the right to do so.)

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I don't understand it
Actually I have the money but no time to play even two/three games at year. And anyway I have lots of others spending priorities.
I loved games, I craved games when I was a teenager, but had no money.
Who is the target? Fired young adults with some money left, no sense of responsibility, and lots of spare time?

No sense of responsibility? Fired?

How about the same demographic that willingly pays for Netflix but might not use it every day or even every month, but knows there's a huge catalog of movies and tv shows they can sort through when they have the time without having to make a concerted decision to go to Redbox to rent a specific movie?

For $10 a month, those people who aren't heavily into gaming but decide they've got a few hours to kill an want to play 'a game' now have a catalog of games to choose from. Games they can try out and quit after 5 minutes if they don't like it and go try a different one. It essentially provides the ability for full-feature demo's, if you want to actually purchase the game you can do so at a discount if you didn't complete it during its "rental" period.

You have lots of other spending priorities so you can't see why some people might be attracted to the flexibility and lack of planning an decision making this service provides for $10 a month.

 

[goonergaz]

So this is like an expanded version of the original PS Plus except games don't get removed? As stated, this is largely ok for late comers but early adopters will likely not get much from this (they maybe could have included live and called it live premium to snag more early adopters)

 

[iroboto]

So this is like an expanded version of the original PS Plus except games don't get removed? As stated, this is largely ok for late comers but early adopters will likely not get much from this (they maybe could have included live and called it live premium to snag more early adopters)

Not quite the same.
Biggest differences is that this acts more like Netflix than it does PS+ or XBLG.

There is a vault, you play the games in the vault. You aren't penalized or advantaged as to when you signed up for the program. If there are some games you want to play in that vault for a month or 2, you sign up, if no games don't sign up. Obviously better with more family members sharing your account, the buffet style is certainly desirable in this scenario.

XBLG and PS+ provide benefits to the user the longer they subscribed, as you only gain the free games if you are subscribed that month.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I don't understand it
Actually I have the money but no time to play even two/three games at year. And anyway I have lots of others spending priorities.
I loved games, I craved games when I was a teenager, but had no money.
Who is the target? Fired young adults with some money left, no sense of responsibility, and lots of spare time?

Families with children living on a budget, like most families? College students who should be studying more than playing games, but end up playing games more than they study? People just out of college trying to establish themselves in the job market? Retired people with lots of time living on a budget? Financially responsible people who don't live on credit?

All situations where a person is cash constrained in some way but might still want to play or at least have access to a large library of games that they haven't played before. Not everyone wants or needs to have the latest AAA release on launch day.

Add to that people that don't game a lot or don't have the time to game a lot (like me). I can wait until there's multiple games in the rental library that I've been interested in possibly playing and then pony up for one month to play them.

Look at my Steam library and there's a ton of AAA games in there I haven't played yet. So much wasted money. In recent years I've started just forcing myself not to buy games that I'm interested in because I know I probably won't have time to play them. If I could just spend 10-20 USD a year in order to "catch up" on some AAA releases (or even indie releases) that I've been interested in, that would be ideal. I'd just wait until I know I'll be able to spend a large chunk of time playing games and then get a one month sub.

It's obviously not going to be all that appealing to most "core" gamers. And since that represents the majority of internet forum posters in gaming related forums, I can see why people can't understand why this exists.

Regards,
SB

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

It's obviously not going to be all that appealing to most "core" gamer's. And since that represents the majority of internet forum posters in gaming related forums, I can see why people can't understand why this exists.

We saw the same reactions from the EA Access announcement, and as far as I'm aware, that program is doing fairly well.

And here we go with MS PR and messaging again...

UPDATE: Despite previously saying "Xbox Game Pass will only be available on Xbox One and Windows 10 devices," Microsoft has clarified the Xbox Game Pass service will not be coming to Windows 10 PCs.

Microsoft explained what's going on to PCGamesN, saying: "The Xbox One and PC icons appear on the Xbox Game Pass description page because you can redeem on console, web and PC, however, Xbox Game Pass is only available on Xbox One consoles."

The article has been updated to reflect this new information. Apologies for any confusion.

 

[goonergaz]

Not quite the same.
Biggest differences is that this acts more like Netflix than it does PS+ or XBLG.

There is a vault, you play the games in the vault. You aren't penalized or advantaged as to when you signed up for the program. If there are some games you want to play in that vault for a month or 2, you sign up, if no games don't sign up. Obviously better with more family members sharing your account, the buffet style is certainly desirable in this scenario.

XBLG and PS+ provide benefits to the user the longer they subscribed, as you only gain the free games if you are subscribed that month.

I said 'original' PS Plus - that was a (small) selection of games where every month 1 was swapped out (from a very fuzzy memory) - it has since evolved to what it is today.

 

[tuna]

I said 'original' PS Plus - that was a (small) selection of games where every month 1 was swapped out (from a very fuzzy memory) - it has since evolved to what it is today.

As I remember you always kept your games as long as you have a plus subscription.