One of the biggest highlights of Microsoft’s Xbox E3 2019 Briefing was the official reveal and release of the Xbox Game Pass for PC, a subsription service for a digital trove of games made available by Microsoft and rotated monthly.
It’s an interesting move for the tech giant that made its name for gaming by focusing on consoles, and an overall contrasting take considering that Epic is trying to bring exclusivity to the platform while Microsoft is actively seeking to unite it. Plus, it launched with the insane price of one dollar, which is incredible when you take a look at the available library.
That said, there were a lot of questions regarding bringing a service created for consoles to a platform like the PC. Mashable has for the most part articulated one of the biggest concerns in an article, which is the necessity (or lack thereof) for live service for the Xbox Game Pass for PC.
It’s a good question, one that was answered by program manager for Xbox Game Pass Jason Beaumont during E3 2019. When asked if PC players can expect to sign up for Xbox Live Gold to be able to play multiplayer games on Xbox Game Pass for PC, he had this to say:
"No, absolutely not," Beaumont said. "You can also buy a standalone PC Game Pass which gives you the content of 100-plus games on PC. If they have multiplayer, they have multiplayer; we're not asking for you to have Gold as well. In fact, the social features like having all of my Xbox Live friends, that's built in whether or not you have Gold."
In the end, PC still wins. It’s amazing to see just how different the platforms are, wherein everyone on console has mostly accepted the fact that they have to pay a fee to be able to play online, in contrast to PC players who do not have to pay for such live services, save of course for certain games that have subscription models.
Looking at the future for consoles, this trend is not going away anytime soon, but it is being conveniently hidden in subscription services. Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is a testament to that, with the service combining Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass into one price.
