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I really do believe that Game Pass has transformed the way that I play for the better. I've been a subscriber to Microsoft Gaming's subscription service since 2017, a monthly fee of $11.99/£9.99 unlocking instant access to hundreds of titles. It has given me the opportunity to dive into new creative endeavors from Xbox Game Studios like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on the day of release, and made it easier than ever to follow the whims of nostalgia towards old favorites from a wide variety of third-party publishers. If I'm ever having one of those days where nothing I own is really igniting my imagination, delivering into new arenas of play is always just a few button clicks away.
Game Pass grew to over 34 million subscribers in 2024. It's an impressive figure, but does also reflect that there are still millions of you out there who are yet to jump into what is arguably the best subscription service the video game industry has ever produced. Perhaps you have good reason not to make the jump, particularly if you're playing on a personal computer. Why, after all, would you want to add yet another digital distribution and storefront service into your rotation – you're already juggling your library between Steam, Epic Games Store, EA Play, Ubisoft Connect, Battle.net… and the list just goes on and on. And honestly, I get the hesitation.
But here's what I'll say about PC Game Pass: you should think of it as an extension of all of these platforms – the great unifier which will allow you to broaden the scope of your horizons. Sure, you may have been used to diving into new Call of Duty or Diablo games via Battle Net, but PC Game Pass gives you the same access to those titles without needing to upfront the cost of entry – and it won't restrict you from connecting and competing with your friends either. An EA Play membership is baked into the price of PC Game Pass, giving you easy access to some of the greatest games from EA, and you'll even find special benefits for historically free-to-play titles like Riot's League of Legends and Valorant.
I think it's the sense of discovery and experimentation that I've really connected with through Game Pass over the years. As the price of video games increases, and with the rising cost of living an ever-present concern, I've always appreciated just how easy it is to transition from spotting an interesting trailer on the storefront to playing the thing within hours – often faster, with integrated Xbox Cloud support across many titles allowing you to dive right into a game from the catalog without needing to wait for a lengthy install to complete. Sometimes a new Game Pass discovery will click instantly and consume a weekend, which is what recently happened with Capcom's delightfully strange action-strategy game Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and GSC Game World's Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Other times, I'll give something an hour and realize that it isn't for me and move on. With hundreds of games to choose from, there's no harm in stepping outside of your comfort zone from time to time.
Xbox is set to have a pretty killer 12 months. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle just launched on December 9 to universal praise; Avowed launches on February 18, 2025. Doom: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, and Fable are also confirmed to launch next year, alongside plenty of other great new releases from third-party publishers. Knowing that I'll have access to all of these, and so much more, via PC Game Pass is exciting – the money I'd have spent on all of those games I can reinvest into a new headset or controller that I've been putting off buying. I know that across the year that monthly subscription will ultimately surmount to big bucks spent, but the monthly spend is easier to manage – especially at a time where new releases are costing upwards of £60/$70 a pop to buy them outright.
If you'd like to learn more, you can check out our pick of the best games on Game Pass. You can also head over to the Xbox website and check out the full PC Game Game Pass catalog. Take some time to filter by your favorite genre to help navigate the over 450 games available, and (if you're anything like me) you may just be surprised to see how many games that have been historically sat on your wishlist are right there waiting for you.
