Xbox Game Passis possibly the best subscription service currently available for games, with a massive library and access to many games on both Xbox and PC. The library only continues to expand withMicrosoft’s acquisition of Bethesda, but far more than just Xbox exclusives are available through the service. However, while Xbox Game Pass may be a model for other major game companies to emulate, it is not free of issues. One of its primary problems lies in expanding the service across platforms, to Windows as well as Xbox consoles.
One of the main draws ofXbox Game Passis that it allows players to share their subscription across multiple different types of devices linked to their account. For those who own both a PC and an Xbox, they could, for example, use just one subscription to play FPS games on their computer and RPGs on their console. At the same time, it means that Microsoft can still sell subscriptions to people who have a PC and don’t plan to get an Xbox, and vice-versa. This all sounds great, but out of the 530 total games currently on Game Pass, 373 can be accessed on console, and only 250 can be accessed from PC.
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There are only a few realistic ways that Microsoft can solve this issue. It’s not as simple as just making sure all thegames on Game Pass are available on both console and PC, since some titles are developed specifically for one and not the other, and Microsoft cannot force developers to make ports if they don’t want to. While the number of games that are Xbox only or PC only will almost certainly shrink, there will always be some that cannot be made to work on both.
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It might seem far-fetched, but there is one more possible solution to the difference in subscription prices, and it comes from game streaming.Microsoft is already experimenting with streamingcertain cloud-enabled games to mobile devices for those with a Game Pass subscription. If PC players could stream console-only games to their computers and vice versa, the whole issue of different subscription pricing might be null and void. As we’ve seen with Stadia, it’ll be a while before cloud-streaming games is perfect, but it won’t be long before it’s good enough.
AsMicrosoft’s own head of cloud gaming assured Game Rant, the role of cloud services in Microsoft’s gaming business will only continue to expand and improve. Part of that expansion may well be a narrowing of the gap between different platforms, enabled by streaming. With Game Pass, Microsoft was already pushing to erase the differences between console and PC, so the current state of the service may just be the first step in that process. For the time being though, Microsoft needs to make sure that players on PC are getting their money’s worth, and currently that’s simply not the case.
