Game Pass: A 5 Year in Review
5 Years In, is it good?
I want to start this review off by saying that I have been subscribed to Xbox Game Pass since Day One and also by stating that I live in Singapore, so this entire review will be based on that.
Now that we got that out of the way, I can say that since Day One, Xbox Game Pass has been the go-to subscription for gaming, there’s nothing that has really rivaled it, there are multiple subscription services like EA Play, Ubisoft+ and PS+, among many but only Xbox Game Pass has felt like it’s a true gaming subscription and not just an Xbox subscription.
But 5 years later and after working with Ubisoft, Take-Two, Microsoft, Sony, Retailers and game distributors in Singapore, I can finally understand who this is good for and who this is hurting, and this review is to see Xbox Game Pass on both spectrums of the arguments.
Just for the sake of making this review simple, I will not be comparing Game Pass with any other services, nor will I be talking about the ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard and FTC/CMA
Games! Games! Games!
This image you see is one of the most common sights from Xbox’s social media accounts, the coming soon image with all the games and what platforms they will be on, it’s the best sight to see if you subscribe to Xbox/PC Game Pass. You get a glimpse of what’s to come and what you want to play that month.
The games that get offered are a huge variety as well! Ranging from first party games like Halo and Microsoft Flight Simulator to third party hits like Guardians of the Galaxy and, at one-point, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V!
There are times smaller indie games and kids’ games have appeared, some of the indie games are bangers like Hades and some not so (entertainment is subjective) and kids’ games like PAW Patrol!
In terms of the games offering, Microsoft really has everyone in mind when they put games on their Game Pass service and with the games being available on 3 different platforms, there’s more ways to play Xbox games than ever!
So, Microsoft has great offerings on their service, they get a point from me for that
Console Game Pass
Let’s do a deeper dive into where you can play those games. We start off with the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X|S consoles
While playing the games are simple as selecting a game, clicking install, downloading and playing the game, what makes the Console Game Pass special is Smart Delivery and Quick Resume on Xbox Series X|S, which allows you to download an Xbox Series X|S version of the game on Game Pass without needing to select between Xbox One or Xbox Series game
Another cool feature, and this is for every game that allows it, is that Xbox Series X|S allows FPS Boost and Auto HDR on games that developers have allowed it to.
With the ability to do this, when Xbox One only games get added, they can take advantage of the power of the Series consoles and give you a higher frame rate and High Dynamic Range (HDR), if your display allows it.
Having these features on Xbox Series X|S means that Console Game Pass has a wide variety of extra features that you can get with the games! Especially legacy Xbox One titles!
Console Game Pass is loaded with features thanks to Xbox Series consoles and it’s easy to use, that gets a point from me
PC Game Pass
Next, we move on to the master race platform, PC. I kid, there’s no master race in gaming but when you have PC Game Pass, it sure makes you feel like you are better than others because you get more new games compared to your friends without PC Game Pass
While yes, there are games that will differ in the library of games between Console Game Pass and PC Game Pass, there are a ton of games that will be the same, like Microsoft Flight Simulator, Halo, Minecraft and Forza Horizon. Ok yes, I admit that I just named 4 first party Xbox games but it’s still true that there are tons of games in a shared library and many of them are multiplayer, and since they both use Xbox Network when launching, so you and your friend can sit down and play (most) games together!
The best part about them using Xbox Network? Well, you get Xbox Achievements, Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Network features
On top of that, there have been instances of games that aren’t cross play on Steam, be cross play on PC Game Pass with Xbox. Games like Deep Rock Galactic, that as of writing, is still not cross-play on Steam.
And since it’s PC, there’s a ton of PC centric games as well! Games like Age of Empires!
But there is one problem, the Launcher
You see, everything would be great about PC Game Pass, and it would’ve gotten one point for this BUT the Xbox launcher has to be bane of it’s existence because as much work and multiple updates since they launched PC Game Pass, the launcher has been the worse experience.
The main problem with it? Well, it’s very slow and the social page? It’s very uninspiring
As you can see, they just decided to smack everything on the page! Your friends, chats, recent games, bio, location, gamerscore, followers…. what I’m saying is, they could’ve made this much better
I mean, just look at the social page on Xbox consoles, it’s well thought out and split between 3 different tabs showcasing different things about you and your profile
So, what’s the reason for the PC Launcher to look so cluttered and bad?
Outside of being slow and messy, I can’t think of other things for me but your mileage may vary so don’t take my experience as Set in Stone
With that being said, I will take half a point out because of the problematic launcher but I’ll give half a point because of what the service offers
One additional thing PC Game Pass offers is EA Play for free, speaking of EA Play
Ultimate Gaming Experience
EA Play! You know, the subscription service that gives you EA games for “free” after being added to the Vault Play List? Well yes, that’s part of Ultimate! It’s a paid service on Xbox
In terms of EA Play, there’s a ton of games from EA (Duh!) and that includes big titles like the Dead Space franchise, Need for Speed franchise and Battlefield franchise. Recently Battlefield 2042 was released on EA Play, it’s a broken game that ran poorly on PC…. among other stuff, but I digress!
EA Play is a brilliant addition for console players but on the PC side of things, you get EA Play even without Ultimate, so it’s instantly much better on PC…. except for the fact that EA Beta pp is terrible but that’s EA’s problem and not Game Pass and this is about Game Pass.
The Ultimate experience gets one excellent point for me!
More Perks with Perks
Next thing about Ultimate is the perks! Every month, they give free stuff from Deluxe Edition upgrades to in-game content!
The best part of perks is the actual real-life perks, I mean in the sense that you get trials to services like Apple and Spotify. They are usually 3 months as well!
I’ve usually been very excited with the perks; I always check what’s new in the perks section just so I can get some awesome subs, in-game content and deluxe upgrade.
Perks also gets a wonderful point for what it gives back for what you pay
Gaming in the Clouds
The next thing about Game Pass Ultimate is Cloud Gaming! It’s the future of gaming according to some at Microsoft, Twitter and, to be honest, Me as well
The problem with the Xbox Cloud Gaming is, well, it has yet to launch in Singapore. Even though the original Project xCloud - Official Trailer back in 2018, they actually showed the Singapore data centers.
You can see it 1 minute 30 seconds into the trailer
So, what happened there Microsoft? As someone who is based in Singapore, it’s very annoying. The worse part about this is, I’m paying the exact same amount as all the regions.
When will Xbox bring Cloud Gaming come to Singapore? You know the country they showed in the trailer? Well, as of this writing, it seems like it’s not anytime soon.
Because of that, Xbox Cloud Gaming doesn’t get a point from me
Day One on Game Pass!
What is a very common phrase now? If you said, Day One on Game Pass, you would be right!
Originally, Day One games were just Xbox Game Studios so Halo, Gears of War, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Starfield and Redfall in the coming future
But on top of Xbox Game Studios being Day One, there’s a ton of third party that’s also Day One!
What kind of games have been Day One recently? Gungrave G.O.R.E, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Hello Neighbor 2 and High on Life
That’s just from November and December so far! So yes, Day One is excellent! It makes me feel great that I can try out new games that I normally would not have, that’s always great for anyone
Day One is especially great for those people who really can’t afford to spend $70 or S$90+ on a brand-new game every month or spending that price for 2 to 3 games a month
Day One obviously gets me a wonderful point from me but when it comes to paying $70 for a new game, you might not be paying that for certain games like EA Games and that’s because
Discounts and deals galore!
To start things off, all new EA game, Xbox Game Studios (You would need this for premium editions), and Game Pass Day One games are 10% off, which is huge if you are either looking to own EA Games Day One since they are NOT available on Game Pass Day One or you want to straight purchase third party games that are Day One or, the best use case scenario, you want to buy the premium edition of the game, like a Digital Deluxe Edition of the game that’s on Game Pass
But the deals aren’t just because of Game Pass membership, there are also because of Xbox Live Gold
But for now, this gets a point. Even though I’ve never really used it, I can think of so many people who have
The long-lost Gold
You might be thinking, why am I so harsh with Xbox Live Gold when it has given so much with games like Games with Gold and discounts
Well, it’s mainly because it’s a system of the past and it really should put to sleep but here, we are, in the ending of 2022, still having to requirement Xbox Live Gold to play online and the Games with Gold offerings are, well, very underwhelming compared to what they have in the Game Pass library.
Having Xbox Live Gold and it’s Games with Gold alongside Xbox Game Pass is like owning your own competition but making one just much nicer compared to the other
It’s like WWE running RAW and SmackDown in a simulcast but obviously favoring one brand over the other, it’s really stupid in my honest opinion and they should shut down Xbox Live Gold all together
While Microsoft does that, they should move Deals with Gold to Xbox Game Pass and call it Deal with Game Pass or something
Deals with Gold is a great service, it gives some of the best deals on Xbox, from 65% off for Red Dead Redemption 2 Ultimate to 80% off for WRC 10 Deluxe Edition
The deals change from time to time and the deals are also something you would love to check out every time they change it
But since it’s the only good thing about Xbox Live Gold, I can’t rightfully give a point for this
Physical Games and Retailers are dying
Yes, they were dying nonetheless because of the digital age of things.
Music had iTunes and Movies/TV Shows had Amazon Video, Xbox Video and of course, PlayStation Video. With multiple platforms have pushed the digital age of entertainment and video games are no exception, Steam started it when they launched Steam and Xbox, and PlayStation started it with Xbox and PlayStation online stores
But with the current generation of consoles being sold with no disc trays, you can tell how quickly retail games are ending
But Xbox Game Pass certainly sped up the process, just like how Spotify and Netflix sped up the process with Music and Movie/TV Shows
Having friends in the retail and distribution sectors of the gaming industry, Game Pass has been the bane of their existence
Even a local game store has completely stopped selling brand new Xbox games, even though they aren’t available on Game Pass Day One
Which is very unfortunate and from what my friends in the retail side of the industry have told me, they seem to not like where it’s going and they feel like their business is losing interest and thus, they have to change their company’s vision
One company had decided to open a publishing hand and retail stores have chosen to move from selling games to selling Trading Cards and livestreams selling Ichiban Kuji
With that being said, Xbox Game Pass speeding up the process of the death of retail has got to be bad for some people, like collectors and the retail industry as a whole and so, I’m planning to not give this a point
Conclusion
With all that being said, I think Xbox Game Pass is one of the best value in Gaming. If you are someone who wants to play video games, but you don’t want to spend a ton of money into this hobby or you are just a parent who is living from paycheck to paycheck and don’t want to spend $70 or S90+ on a video game for your child, this subscription is a god send
Xbox Game Pass is more than about the games, it about the deals, the ability to play your games on your phone or underpowered laptop from yesteryear and accessibility!
If you are an Xbox gamer, you can just get an Xbox Series S with Game Pass and if you have a gaming PC around, it’s an addition to getting free games
If you got a phone, which you do, you now have access to your Game Pass library directly on your phone!
After all that said, it’s time to give my rating 5 years after Game Pass release
It’s a 7.5 out of 10 for me!
