Image: Microsoft
While Xbox Game Pass Ultimate represents the premium gaming subscription that Microsoft offers, the $19.99/mo fee can be prohibitive for some people. Microsoft’s Game Pass Core and Standard tiers are more affordable, and there’s good news for subscribers today: Microsoft is making PC and cloud streaming games available to those tiers.
Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers will now have access to cloud gaming, both on games that they do and don’t own. Even better, Microsoft is testing giving them access to local versions of select PC titles, widening the Core and Standard tiers — which were tied to the Xbox console — and making them accessible to PC and/or handheld players, too.
All this makes sense, as Microsoft has expanded its concept of what an Xbox is to both the PC, handheld, and streaming television platforms. It’s also good news for existing PC gamers who may have struggled to game on a productivity PC and now can take advantage of Microsoft’s GPU-powered servers in the cloud.
Microsoft’s Core subscription already gives console users access to a small library of between 25 and 30 games. Standard subscribers gain access to a vastly expanded library of several hundred games — but solely on the Xbox console, until now. Microsoft isn’t saying how many games on each tier will be playable in the cloud. But the nice touch is that if you already own the game, you should be able to stream it from the Xbox cloud, giving those low-end PC players an immediate boost.
There is a small catch. For now, Microsoft is testing this capability with its Insider program, which means that you’ll simply need to download the Xbox Insider Hub app for the Xbox or the PC, as well as the corresponding app for the Xbox.
If you are part of the Windows Insider program and play games on a PC or a handheld, open the Xbox PC app and then simply navigate to the Game Pass tab to see the catalog of expanded and cloud-accessible games. Of course, there are other options like Nvidia’s GeForce Now plan, but Microsoft’s expansion of its already paid-for plans is a nice bonus.
Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers’ News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.
