Forget Xbox Series X restocks — Xbox Game Pass is the best deal in gaming

Forget Xbox Series Ten restocks — Xbox Game Pass is the best deal in gaming

An image of an Xbox controller and Xbox Game Pass

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The Christmas season is upon united states of america, and Xbox Game Pass might exist the all-time game you can give. Look at it this mode: You're non going to get an Xbox Series Ten. Yous may exist able to get an Xbox Series Due south in fourth dimension for Christmas, although information technology's not the right system for everyone, as we discuss in our Xbox Serial Due south review.

Only Xbox Game Pass is a digital product. Stock won't — and, in fact, can't — run out, and yous tin can beginning using information technology immediately on devices you lot already own.

Unlike Google Stadia, you don't have to buy games à la carte. Unlike Nvidia GeForce Now, y'all don't have to bring your own library with you. Different PlayStation Now, yous can play brand-new, first-party games on release day. While Xbox Game Pass isn't flawless by whatever means, it is, without a uncertainty, the most comprehensive and versatile deject gaming service available right now.

While games journalism requires disquisitional altitude from its subjects, it as well requires honest and forthright appraisals when a company does something right. Microsoft has done something very correct with Xbox Game Laissez passer. If yous're exhausted of trying to hunt down Xbox Series X restocks, or merely looking for some new games to play this month and don't know where to get-go, let me lay out the case for Microsoft's cloud gaming contender.

What is Xbox Game Laissez passer?

We've discussed what Xbox Game Laissez passer many times before, nigh recently in our Xbox Serial X restock culling piece. Rather than give an exhaustive breakdown of the service (Microsoft has i, if you're interested), here are the central points:

Xbox Game Pass is a game subscription service from Microsoft
Y'all can download games to Xbox consoles or gaming PCs
You can stream games to consoles, non-gaming PCs, Android and iOS devices
There are more than 400 games bachelor
Prices range between $10 and $15 per month, depending on your subscription

There are 3 unlike subscription tiers: Xbox Game Pass ($ten per month), PC Game Pass ($10 per calendar month) and Xbox Game Laissez passer Ultimate ($15 per month). Xbox Game Pass lets y'all download games for Xbox I and Xbox Series X/Due south. PC Game Pass lets y'all do the same for gaming PCs (exact specs vary past game).

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is where things get interesting. For $15 per month, you can download Xbox and PC games, just as the split Xbox and PC passes allow you lot to practice. Just you can besides stream hundreds of games to Android and iOS devices, as well as to non-gaming PCs via Web browser. Y'all tin can even stream to Xbox consoles for instantaneous play. The functionality is nevertheless in beta, and information technology's not perfect. But information technology works well enough for everyday play.

Why Xbox Game Pass is a not bad deal

photo of a Samsung phone connected to an Xbox Wireless controller sitting on top of Xbox games — (Image credit: Future)

If you're waiting for some kind of big catch, you lot'll have to go along waiting. I've been using Xbox Game Pass for years, and I've yet to striking any kind of significant snag with it. Playing downloaded games works perfectly; playing streamed games is a work in progress, simply it's much meliorate than y'all might expect from a beta plan. (Whether Microsoft should accuse users for a beta is another upshot, but that boxing appears to be lost.)

Microsoft releases all its big games on Game Pass right when they launch, meaning you can play Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 and a multifariousness of other Xbox exclusives for less than retail price.

The biggest downside I tin can think of is that you won't own whatever of the games you play on Game Pass. As such, when games leave the service — or when you do — you'll take to buy those games outright to proceed playing. But you'll unremarkably become a discount on them, and you may non want to keep every unmarried game.

The Xbox Game Pass library is also rich and diverse. Microsoft releases all its large games on Game Pass right when they launch, pregnant y'all tin play Halo Space, Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator and a variety of other Xbox exclusives for less than retail price (bold you can end them within three months).

In general, cross-salvage compatibility is splendid, too. This means you lot can first playing a game on your Xbox, shift over to your PC when your spouse needs the TV, and terminate upwardly on your smartphone but before bed, and all you lot'll need are a few seconds to sync the saves.

Remember, though, that Xbox Game Pass isn't for everyone. You may hate the idea of renting games indefinitely rather than just buying them, or you might notice that even the impressive Game Pass library doesn't have exactly what y'all want to play. If that's the case, y'all can simply cancel your subscription. You won't even be out $15, every bit Microsoft frequently offers $one Game Pass promotions for new subscribers.

In brusque: Xbox Game Pass offers hundreds of great games across a multifariousness of platforms, whether or not you lot own a defended gaming motorcar. And if you don't like it, in that location's no difficulty in canceling your subscription. If the service has a significant mistake, it's hard to discern what information technology is.

Xbox Game Laissez passer: Merchandise-offs and concerns

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate image — (Image credit: Microsoft)

This brings me to my 1 major caveat about Xbox Game Pass. At its current charge per unit of growth, the cost doesn't seem sustainable. The subscription service launched with 100 games on a single platform, the Xbox I. At present both the number of games and the available platforms accept more quadrupled. While $15 is expensive every bit monthly streaming subscriptions go, it still doesn't seem quite right for hundreds of products that ordinarily cost $60 apiece.

One of Microsoft'south greatest strengths this console generation is that it'south building an ecosystem rather than a single console. Compare and contrast this to Sony's approach: all PS5, all the time. On the flip side, if Xbox Game Pass can offer parity with a gaming console, it may make gamers wonder why they need an Xbox Serial X at all — and it may make Microsoft wonder how much those gamers would be willing to pay for a full-blown panel replacement.

In the concurrently, a dedicated Xbox Serial X or ane of the best gaming PCs can however offering a smoother gaming feel than Xbox Game Pass'south streaming component, besides equally college resolutions and better frame rates. Merely streaming technology has fabricated smashing strides in the past few years, and nosotros have to imagine that the next few years will bring like innovations.

Xbox Game Pass bottom line

For at present, Xbox Game Pass is a thing of dazzler, peculiarly if you're willing to bound for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate variant. And, if it always gets likewise expensive or unwieldy in the future, you can simply cancel your subscription and go dorsum to ownership games the old-fashioned style.

Update: Microsoft has announced information technology will purchase Activision Blizzard further boosting its suite of developers and publishers. And that means Game Pass is set to become even more games in one case the acquisition is completed.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering. Afterwards hours, you can notice him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.