Xbox Game Pass advice
Discussion
Son (13) has got a PS4 & a Switch but the Switch is a dust-gatherer. He bought it with his own money so we've agreed he can sell it & buy an X-box One (pre-owned) so he can play with his mates that don't have a PS4.
Looking into it, it would seem that the Game Pass Ultimate at £11 per month is very good value, but how does it work & how can I find out what games you get?
It seems that COD (of some sort but not sure which yet), Sea of Thieves, Minecraft & Rocket League are the games they are playing. Does it make sense to get the Game Pass rather than buying games separately?
Are the games the "full versions" of the games, or are they time limited / get so far then "to continue please enter card details" type games?
Also seems to be very confusing about what you get - I've found a list that says Sea of Thieves is included but another where it isn't. Same with Minecraft.
Advice welcome!
Looking into it, it would seem that the Game Pass Ultimate at £11 per month is very good value, but how does it work & how can I find out what games you get?
It seems that COD (of some sort but not sure which yet), Sea of Thieves, Minecraft & Rocket League are the games they are playing. Does it make sense to get the Game Pass rather than buying games separately?
Are the games the "full versions" of the games, or are they time limited / get so far then "to continue please enter card details" type games?
Also seems to be very confusing about what you get - I've found a list that says Sea of Thieves is included but another where it isn't. Same with Minecraft.
Advice welcome!
You don't own the content. It is a rental library of games, and the contents change regularly (most are there for at least a year though).
It's the 'full game' and the edition available will depend on what Microsoft owns and what it's bought in. Some times it's the full 'GoTY' edition which comes with all the extra chapters/DLCs/etc. Other times it is the base game, and you haver to buy the DLC (with a bit of a discount).
You should be able to see the current list of games (nearly 500 at the moment - but some are just different versions of the same game) by simply viewing them on the Game Pass website. It also now includes all the Bethesda/Zenimax content as Microsoft bought them recently, and they've also recently added the EA Play library.
There are different tiers available for Game Pass:
Microsoft used to offer to swap all your Xbox Live Gold credit for the same amount of Ultimate months for £1 - which was a bargain, but I think they've changed that to a sliding scale so that 1 month of Gold gets you 20 days of Ultimate...but 1 year of Gold only gets you 4 months of Ultimate (unless that special offer appears again).
If you buy directly from Microsoft it's cheaper to subscribe monthly than paying for a 12 month pass (e.g. Game Pass Ultimate = £131.99 if paid annually, or £131.88 if paid monthly, plus first month is only £1, so first year is effectively £120.89).
Places such as cdkeys.com offer discounted 'gift cards' for these services, so you can save a few pounds there as well (e.g an annual Game Pass is £99 - when they're in stock).
It's the 'full game' and the edition available will depend on what Microsoft owns and what it's bought in. Some times it's the full 'GoTY' edition which comes with all the extra chapters/DLCs/etc. Other times it is the base game, and you haver to buy the DLC (with a bit of a discount).
You should be able to see the current list of games (nearly 500 at the moment - but some are just different versions of the same game) by simply viewing them on the Game Pass website. It also now includes all the Bethesda/Zenimax content as Microsoft bought them recently, and they've also recently added the EA Play library.
There are different tiers available for Game Pass:
- Xbox Live Gold (£6.99/month)
- Xbox Game Pass for Console £7.99/month)
- Xbox Game Pass for PC (£7.99/month)
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for both Console & PC (£10.99/month) - this is probably what you're looking for, as it includes Xbox Live Gold which is needed for multi-player
Microsoft used to offer to swap all your Xbox Live Gold credit for the same amount of Ultimate months for £1 - which was a bargain, but I think they've changed that to a sliding scale so that 1 month of Gold gets you 20 days of Ultimate...but 1 year of Gold only gets you 4 months of Ultimate (unless that special offer appears again).
If you buy directly from Microsoft it's cheaper to subscribe monthly than paying for a 12 month pass (e.g. Game Pass Ultimate = £131.99 if paid annually, or £131.88 if paid monthly, plus first month is only £1, so first year is effectively £120.89).
Places such as cdkeys.com offer discounted 'gift cards' for these services, so you can save a few pounds there as well (e.g an annual Game Pass is £99 - when they're in stock).
Edited by mmm-five on Monday 16th November 21:06
northwest monkey said:
Fantastic - cheers very much
Would he also need Xbox Live on top of that so he can play online?
Game pass includes Xbox live also. Would he also need Xbox Live on top of that so he can play online?
If you’re interested, a new Xbox series S with game pass is £21 a month for 24 months. It would get you the new console (when there’s some stock).
Mr E said:
northwest monkey said:
Fantastic - cheers very much
Would he also need Xbox Live on top of that so he can play online?
Game pass includes Xbox live also. Would he also need Xbox Live on top of that so he can play online?
If you’re interested, a new Xbox series S with game pass is £21 a month for 24 months. It would get you the new console (when there’s some stock).
He's a big fan of PS, but some of his mates in his class are on X-Box so he wanted to be able to play with them - for just over £150 it was a bit of a no-brainer. The Switch was just sitting there not getting used so that's gone on Ebay. All being well, should be a 1TB Xbox One with 12 months warranty, pad & headphone adapter here tomorrow!
mmm-five said:
There are different tiers available for Game Pass:
This isn’t quite right.- Xbox Live Gold (£6.99/month)
- Xbox Game Pass for Console £7.99/month) - this is probably what you're looking for
- Xbox Game Pass for PC (£7.99/month)
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for both Console & PC (£10.99/month) - [i]if your son doesn't have a Windows PC, this is a waste
If you want to play online, you’ll need Xbox Live Gold, you won’t be able to do that with just Game Pass.
Think of Game Pass Ultimate as a ‘bundle’ of Live Gold and Game Pass.
Big Nanas said:
This isn’t quite right.
If you want to play online, you’ll need Xbox Live Gold, you won’t be able to do that with just Game Pass.
Think of Game Pass Ultimate as a ‘bundle’ of Live Gold and Game Pass.
Yes, you're quite right.If you want to play online, you’ll need Xbox Live Gold, you won’t be able to do that with just Game Pass.
Think of Game Pass Ultimate as a ‘bundle’ of Live Gold and Game Pass.
Hadn't noticed that as my 36 months of Xbox Live Gold went straight to Ultimate for £1 - and I don't do multiplayer which the OP had mentioned.
Edited my post to avoid any more confusion
Games Pass is one of the best deals going right now and it's only getting better. Getting those first party titles on release day as part of the package is amazing and the breadth of games included is great. There are also EA Play titles included now too, most are naff but there are some classics in there like the Dead Space series.
I've had an email this morning from Xbox. As of October 1st, the Games with Gold monthly freebie games on Xbox Live Gold won't include Xbox 360 games and will just be Xbox One games.
"We have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalogue"
You still keep any 360 games you've downloaded on previous Games with Gold.
"We have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalogue"
You still keep any 360 games you've downloaded on previous Games with Gold.
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