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Xbox Games Pass: Microsoft launches $10 monthly subscription for over 100 titles

It's like Netflix or PlayStation now – with some key differences

Andrew Griffin
Tuesday 28 February 2017 15:51 GMT
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Microsoft is launching the Netflix of games, letting people play as many as they want for just $10 a month.

The Xbox Games Pass will be a monthly subscription service that gives access to 100 games, Microsoft has said. As such, it works like Netflix or similar to the PlayStation Now service that Sony has offered for years.

But unlike Sony's option, where people are required to stream the games over the internet, Microsoft will let people actually download the titles to their own console. Microsoft's will also have fewer titles, with only 100 at launch compared with PlayStation Now's 450 – but all of Sony's games are for the PS3, and there's been no indication that it will bring the latest games to the service.

The full list of those launch titles hasn't yet been revealed, but Microsoft has indicated that some of the biggest games and publishers will be part of the arrangement. That will include games like Halo 5, which was only relatively recently released, for instance.

Microsoft says that the 100 games on offer will change over time, with titles being removed and added each month. If people want to hang on to a game that is being removed, they will have to buy it so that it can stay in their library – but they will be offered it at a discount.

Xbox Games Pass will initially roll out to Xbox Insiders, the small group of people who try out software and services before they are released to the public. It will make it available to the public later this spring, Microsoft said.

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