As Netflix-style video game subscription services continue to gain ground, Microsoft is also intending to keep bolstering its Xbox Game Pass library. The company has reportedly been in talks with “every major publisher” to have not just new titles but also their subscription services come to Game Pass.
We already saw this happen last year when EA Play became available for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, being due to arrive to its PC variant in 2021. According to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, Microsoft didn’t just discuss a potential deal with EA.
“I’d heard that, yeah, there had been some kind of talk about a more pervasive partnership between Ubisoft and Microsoft for Game Pass,” he said on the Xbox Two Podcast.
“It’s not as much of a revelation as you might think […] Microsoft didn’t just get EA Play and think ‘we’re going to stop there’. Of course not. They’re all-in on trying to get all publishers to bring their games to Game Pass.”
According to Corden, Microsoft has “been talking to basically every major publisher”, Electronic Arts simply being the first one to accept the deal and bring EA Play over to Xbox Game Pass. Whether or not this deal has any sort of exclusivity is unknown.
Similarly, Microsoft, Ubisoft or other major publishers haven’t hinted at a potential Xbox Game Pass deal, so it’s worth treating all of the above as rumors.
Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see such deals come to fruition in the near future. As SuperData points out, the combined earnings of Game Pass, EA Play and PS Now went up by 142% back in October, when compared to the same period from 2019.
Adding the lower tiers of a subscription service to Xbox Game Pass would enable publishers to monetize older games while maintaining the draw of their own subscription services (like UPlay+) through day-one access to their own major releases, a point that Corden also echoed.
We’ll be on the lookout and update you on any Xbox Game Pass deals between Microsoft, Ubisoft or other publishers as soon as we learn more. In the meantime, here are all the games you can currently play through the Xbox Game Pass for PC.
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