Microsoft Expands Gaming Empire, Bringing Xbox Game Pass to PC Players

Microsoft is back in the game (pun intended) again, having acquired Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs, and Compulsion Games just this year. Ninja Theory developed Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Playground Games is behind the Forza series, and Compulsion Game's major release is We Happy Few.

A full list of games available on the Xbox Game Pass can be found here, but a quick check reveals some strong options. All three BioShock titles, Bayonetta, DMC 4, Doom 2016, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 3 & Fallout 4, Forza Horizon 4, six Gears of War titles, Halo games, Metro Last Light Redux, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Sea of ​​Thieves, Two Shantae Games, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and Xcom: Enemy Within are a handful of the titles available on the service. Obviously, your tastes and opinion will vary, but there's no arguing that Microsoft has a very strong lineup of games. $ 10 per month with Day Xbox Game Pass a huge success.

Over at Geek.com, Jordan Minor is asking for Microsoft's move to the Xbox's game console. In my own opinion as a PC gamer, no, probably not. This is not a question of duplication between the communities – a lot of gamers have both consoles and PC titles, and a household could easily contain a mixture of players and platforms. Nadella has made its core concerns – game streaming, cloud platforms, and an increased overlap between Xbox and PC gaming that allows gamers in one ecosystem to access products in the other.

If Microsoft wants to make a renewed first-party push, this kind of move makes perfect sense. Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One Xbox One It could even be the same with PCs, but want to experience Halo or one of the other Xbox first-party titles.

The biggest question in all this is the case of PCs who are willing to trust Microsoft. While the Game Pass service would be presumably be tied to the Xbox app instead of the Windows Store, the Windows Store, has a terrible way to acquire games. There have been infinite download bugs, poor performance, hopelessly buggy performance, and, in one memorable case, buying the Windows Store version of the game locked you to different multiplayer servers than Steam gamers. Fixing PC gamer perceptions could take a while. But extending the game Xbox Game to PC players should be a good upside, especially for gamers with laptops who want to be able to play the game.

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