Xbox Game Pass is considered by many to be one of the best deals in gaming these days. Instead of buying top titles for over £60/$60, how nice would it be able to play hundreds of games for free?
That got your attention didn't it? Well according to news outlet Tweak Town, Xbox's gaming CFO Tim Stuart has been discussing such an idea. Speaking at a Wells Fargo summit, he was quoted as saying that they have been considering the implementation of s playtime model, describing the premise as "hey, do you want to watch 30 seconds of an ad and then get two hours of game streaming?"
My answer to that is yes. That's a much better ad-to-content ratio than the likes of YouTube. Before you race to unsubscribe to Game Pass, however, there's one thing you should know. Microsoft is only looking at this model for select regions. Stuart name-checked places that "maybe aren't console-first," like India, Africa and Southeast Asia, more emerging markets where there's "not a lot of high-end disposable income, generally speaking."
A plan such as this would bring it in line with some of the best streaming services who offer cheaper ad-based plans, but to go completely free would be a real leap forward for gamers in the targeted areas.
Without an entry cost, this might be a particularly welcoming development for those who've lapsed or were never really into games and gamers who always wanted to try a title like Starfield which is exclusive to Xbox/PC.
Although it's £12.99 for a subscription, that's still a good deal for day-one access to the biggest games, especially with the price of the likes of Spotify, and Netflix seemingly increasing regularly.
Game Pass has just added even more titles for Christmas too, now you can play Rise of The Tomb Raider and World War Z: Aftrrmath and Remnant: From the Ashes 2, a looter shooter which I very much enjoyed when it came out.
