In recent times, my household received a lovely gaming gift: a trial subscription to Xbox Game Pass. For a month, we had a great time perusing the app’s amazing selection of games and adding oodles of title to our “to-play” list. And we had just as good a time (sort of) agonizing over the lack of time we had to play any of them. C’est la vie. Only then, we discovered that Microsoft had been kind(?) enough to convert our few remaining months of Xbox Live Gold to the Game Pass, and now Game Pass members we remain for a little while longer. If you know the service, then you also know that Game Pass is pretty darn nifty.
Eurogamer recently posted an excellent and in-depth article on Xbox Game Pass titled “Is Xbox Game Pass to Good to be True?” It goes into great detail about not only the nuts and bolts of the service itself, but also its sustainability in our on-demand world. The service now has tens of millions of subscribers. No doubt, some of them, like us, ended up as such by happenstance. And I’m not complaining, because as I said, Xbox Game Pass is downright amazing. Putting aside our physical backlogs (*couch cough*), it’s awesome to have a varied library of games at our fingertips. To a certain degree, the service eliminates “buyer’s regret.” If you don’t like a title, you just remove from your library and head into the next game, no questions asked. And it’s especially neat to have access to some new games immediately.
And yet, despite the “cool” factor…
… in the few months that we’ve had Xbox Game Pass, we’ve played three, maybe four games from it. So what gives?
Time, that’s what. Or rather, it doesn’t, because there just aren’t enough hours in our day for all the enjoyment that Xbox Game Pass provides.
Like many, we subscribe to several different entertainment services, all of which have mostly replaced two things: watching broadcast television and going to the movies. In hindsight, it used to be that these two activities took up the majority of our free entertainment-driven time, with gaming taking up a decent third place. Throw in various other hobbies, and life becomes what it is. My point is that, despite its promise of limitless gaming, it’s not the first or even second place we’ve been turning to as a gaming outlet, or even as a general entertainment outlet. It’s very nice to know that, for example, I could easily jump into West of Dead, a game I’d like to play someday and don’t already have in my physical backlog. But knowing and doing are two different things. Because I’m not used to following the Xbox ecosphere, what’s more likely to happen is what happened with the game My Friend Pedro. Played that for a couple sessions, forgot about it favor of other games, and then tried to go back to it only to find out it had left the service. (/sadtrombone)
So really, the question of Xbox Game Pass for my own household is if it’s worth keeping in the long run. Yes, it’s nice to have for the moment, but what is its worth if we continue to mostly ignore it? As with many things, value and use go hand in hand. Further, it’s pretty clear that Microsoft really wants people to subscribe to it over that of Xbox Live Gold. (And if anything, they really, really want folks to get the Ultimate version of the service, a difference of $10 vs. $15 USD a month). The answer to that might very well lie in a few points brought up in that Eurogamer article about how the service may transform, and transform access to games, in the future (at least as far as Microsoft is concerned). It may just be a matter of seeing where things stand when our Game Pass subscription lapses. Though…I have a feeling that Microsoft will do everything in its power to ensure that’s something we don’t want to have happen.
If you’ re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, what are your thoughts on it? Is the smorgasbord of games perfect or perfectly over (or under) whelming?
VIRTUAL BASTION 
Great piece. I am in the same boat as you. It’s too good to be true. There as so many good games on it. Just not enough hours in the day to play them all.
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Thanks! Yeah, it’ll be interesting to watch how the service evolves. I’m glad it exists, but it is a little overwhelming in the short-term.
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Very true 🙂
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Like you said, it comes down to time vs money. If you’re not going to play all that much over the course of the year, then probably not. On the other hand, if they continue publishing new games through the service, you can play them there instead of paying the full $60 price tag. If it “saves” you from buying 3 games that year, then it’s paid for itself and a little extra. Of course, should you ever end your subscription, then those games are all lost to you.
For me, I’d say it’s not worth it. Sure you end up spending more if you buy a lot of games in a year, but they’re yours forever. Not having the subscription also removes the pressure to use it.
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Your last point really hits the nail on the head. We’ve kinda become a PS-centric household over the last couple years. In terms of my own preferences, the Xbox takes third if not a lower place. I don’t automatically turn to it for what I want to play, and really having Game Pass doesn’t really change that.
The other big point here is that, yes, you don’t own anything on Game Pass. Just like what happened with us and My Friend Pedro, if something you’re playing is taken down, that’s that. I guess that’s a feature everyone’s used to since Netflix and such do the same, but there’s just something different about losing access to a game over a TV show. There’s a different level of investment there. Or, at least there is for me. 🙂 Like I said, I don’t dislike having Game Pass, but the question of paying for it in the future is still up in the air.
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Reblogged this on DDOCentral.
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Reblogged this on Recollections of Play and commented:
Xbox Game Pass – is it a curse or a blessing? Well, that answer might just depend on how much time you have, which is something I lamented (while also pondering that very question) recently here on Virtual Bastion.
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If it helps, I’ve never even been to that party, since I’ve never tried Game Pass. As you said, time is not enough to play every game before it’s replaced by another one (that maybe you don’t even like) and this is also the main reason why I also unsubscribed from Netflix. Why pay money, even if it’s a small sum, to access to a service I don’t have time to use?
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That’s it exactly! We’ve had the same discussion about our other subscription services (Netflix, Hulu, etc.). But we can argue that at least we utilize them on an almost-daily basis, so we’re okay paying for them. It’s just not that way with Game Pass. Maybe we’ll change our tune once it expires, but we have several months to mull that over.
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I think it’s easier to use Netflix and similar without wasting money because in the end you only have to “spend” two hours a day to watch a movie. and you always have time for that. If you play a game for two hours you’ll be most likely still at the beginning so you have to play it for several days before you can finally complete it. I think Game Pass is mostly for teens who play games for like 6 hours a day, not for older people like me who have just a couple of free hours during the evening…
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Y’know, that’s true. It is geared towards playing more than playing less. If Game Pass had been a thing some 20 years ago, I’d have signed up for it without question. Now, that’s a much tougher call. And indeed, unless you happen to choose a 2-hour game, you’re going to need to/want to invest more time in it, and that’s the thing — finding more time above and beyond that which you’re already spending on other hobbies. Tis the dilemma of being an adult!
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We only recently got gamepass (and the free gold upgrade!) and I love being able to try new games. I’ve been mainly focussing on shorter games I wouldn’t have otherwise tried, I’ve discovered I like adventure stories and have already finished Oxenfree and what remains of Edith Finch. I’ve also played games I was considering getting but hadn’t wanted to commit to – monster sanctuary, Spiritfarer, carto and ikenfell.
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What you mentioned is probably the most appealing thing about Game Pass for us too — that you can try new games without having to fully commit to them. We don’t have a ton of time to play games as it is, so being able to pick and choose what we *might* want to play without plunking down $10-$60 each time is a huge plus.
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