Opinion: Xbox Game Pass Is On A Ridiculous Hot Streak Right Now

GP has never been so strong. I think even at full $20/m its unbeatable value. I also dont recall ever having so many top notch games almost every month. Crazy.
Yet some people keep hating by saing its worse than before. Quickly everyone forgot driest 2022 with only pentiment releasing and 2023 with redfall.

And we all know how to save with MS rewards and core conversions. I am paying $5 month until 2027.
The savings goes to buying games on release that are non in GP and also I got ps5 and its exclusives. Its very weird but its cheaper to have 2 consoles vs only ps5 and buy games that are on GP.

It's unbeatable imo. The service, the value, it's absolutely unreal how amazing GP is, and even though it gets credit from users, devs and pubs, I still don't think it gets the acclaim it deserves. You just can't beat it. I'd gladly pay £20 a month for it and still feel I'm getting my money's worth.

I still can't believe I can get Gamepass for "free" through the rewards program. What a fantastic service. I wish it was around long before now. Best way to game period.

Xbox is gamepass!

Like i tell all my friends. #1 service for gamers for the price and it is not even close!

One complaint - I’m drowning in games at the moment. Gamepass has been on fire for a while now.

I'm loving GP at the minute, it's going to be a huge time sink (because I need something to do before a possible prison sentance)

@Kaloudz honestly I would rather pay 20 for GPU than 15 as before but have bangers like expidition 33, oblivion, doom, ninja gaiden vs full year of nothing and pentiment like in 2022 lol.

@Kaloudz I think people just not really aware of what it does. My friends on PS thought its like PS plus lol though I dont recall even 1 AA title in PS plus on release. They even remove older sony exclusives that cost nothing anyways on sale.
Unfortunately, big part of it is overall xbox reputation/lack of popularity.
Another factor is I think GP falls in a weird spot where casuals dont play that many games (or want to play their fifa and madden and thats it) but hardcore players prefer physical or buying their games for the collection.
So it caters to what I would say as semi-hardcore audience who plays decent amount of games and dont need to own them (if you can call buying digitally as owning).

I definitely feel like GP should get much more praise. Especially in this economy since we are getting ready for $80-90 dollar games.

@Feffster yes how dare we drown in games.... awesome games at that lol

It's really on a pretty wild run at the moment that stretches back to Stalker last year. Just big AAA after big AAA. And then lots of smaller ones like Blue Prince and Balatro. And there's a ton of slightly lesser but really worthwhile games as well such Aliens Fireteam, Metal Slug Tactics. That's just off the top of my head, there's so many more.

I don't really get the rewards program stuff but I just get a key from CD Keys and it's basically £100 a year (I'd imagine that has gone up a bit now) which is just crazy.

And there are still people who just won't accept that it's a good deal. It's an objective truth at this point.

For my gaming habits/preferences, GamePass has been on a hot streak ever since I subscribed way back in 2017. I think it would be very difficult for me to get back in gaming as it was before the service launched. Long it may continue.🙂

100%

However, whoever is in charge of scheduling needs a kick in the bottom. Having Oblivion drop 2 days before Clair Obscur was silly.

Definitely amazing value, unfortunately i’m not interested in most of the games on it myself. The one game i was interested in got pushed out to next year, Fable. Also Clair Obscur looks cool

@abe_hikura I've been saying this about a few games over the years

@Millionski Man, how far have we come since 2021/22? It's like a complete role reversal. It's like we're eating the way we should have, plus all the years we starved 🤣

Yes!! Exactly right! I play a game and I very, very rarely return afterwards unless it's something that demands it (like Stardew Valley) but 9/10 times, I don't go back, so semi-hardcore is a perfect description of what GP caters towards.

People playing live service games like Destiny or Fortnite wouldn't see much benefit and would probs be better on core, but to me, as described above, it's unreal how much I'm getting for the cost of a pub meal once a month.

Gamepass has been on 🔥 this year. Personal highlights for me are Avowed, South of Midnight, and right now Expedition 33 and Oblivion remastered. Avowed alone I put in around 70+ hours. Also can’t wait for Doom The Dark ages next month. I Won’t be cancelling my subscription anytime soon 😂

@Kaloudz not mentioning that you still need GP core (or ps plus esential) to play games like COD thats included in the sub along with COD lol.
And how many good titles were just discovered since I owned the sub: blue prince was a recent highlight that I never expected would hook me up.

@themightyant maybe it was the abk deal. i dont know. but yeah it was incosistent previously but now it seems like they finally figured it out. Mostly driven by bethesda, obsidian and partners (atomfall, expedition, NG2).

I said it in a comment yesterday, I need to resub but don't know where to start. I can't help thinking the Xbox consoles would have seen much higher sales numbers if this had occurred early in the generation. The value vs competitors is really something at this point. Xbox is a publisher now though and that benefits all gamers.

Yeah, Gamepass really deserves its flowers in 2025. I have multiple consoles at home, and I barely turned on the ol Xbox last year. I played a game or two early in the year and played Indy in December, and the rest of the time it collected dust while I gamed elsewhere (my son still made good use of our GP subscription!).

But 2025 has just been hit after hit. So far I have already played through Avowed (great!), Citizen Sleeper 2 (great!) South of Midnight (Great!) and Atomfall (meh). Expedition 33 is loaded and ready to go for the weekend. And then we have stuff like Doom, Outer Worlds 2, Moonlighter 2, The Alters on the way. Oh yeah, and a hidden gem no one has heard of called Oblivion or something.

The biggest problem in 2025 with GP is there are too many great games to play. Which is an amazing problem to have!

Have both PS5 and Series X.
Gamepass Ultimate is so much better than PS plus premium.
Have both top tier subs.
Also, my young'un gets to play on the PC, with an even wider selection of games on PC gamepass.

Used to pay £7.22 a month for years but recently it's gone to £10 a month. Excellent value.

@somnambulance honestly if you caught up on PS games (especially if you owned ps4) this year its only DS2 and Ghost 2.

Aside of these 2, you would be playing exactly same games with same performance on ps5 but without game pass.

@16BitHero unfortunately it impacts xbox consoles sales numbers and puts it into shaky spot next gen. But I would say this gen series s/x is a solid choice still.

to maximize GPU savings:
1) make sure you are not currently subbed to any tier
2) buying game pass core 12month codes (max 36 month). one of the cheapest is cdkeys but many retailers do discounts too.
3) stack 36 month of GP core. then buy 1 month of GPU. this will convert at 2:1 ratio (you will get 18 months).
turn off all auto=renewals.

that would mean between $7-12/m vs $20 price with just subbing directly.

P.S. method is legal, you can find threads in MS support confirming that.

@TheOldHunter4K i only buy exclusives on ps5, usually most are on frequent discount. Multiplat i buy on whatever platform I want (mostly prefer xbox anyways).
PS plus extra/premium are useless IMO. There is no calendar/coming soon sections, there is no logic which games stay in service (ened older sony exclusives can be removed at any point). No day 1 for anything except rare indies.

this year definitely xbox will be main platform. just too much sauce.

@Millionski Is BP any good? I'm on the fence with it and not sure whether to install it. Is it like Escape Room (puzzle game).

@Kaloudz I could not put it away until I beat it (once). My wife was also very hooked which is super rare. Its a mix of secrets, puzzles and map building. The only downside is some secrets are near impossible to figure out so had to use the guide. But the whole roqulike style with building map with rooms is super fun.

Be thankful for the “hateful”. If it wasn’t for Xbox being in 3rd place and all the irrational haters, GP would certainly be less affordable.

@Millionski u can also just buy the one month Ultimate sub from the different CD Key sites too…I’ve been paying $7 a month from Eneba/Gamivo/G2A etc since the price hike last summer but yea if u want to lock in a big length of time u can do the core conversion ur referring to as well to get the same monthly price

I'm spoilt for choice on what to play, I'm glad I bought an Xbox

@Millionski cheers for the GPU info! I know my wife will love BP too having previously completed Lorelei and the laser eyes and Talos Principle 2 before me.

I’d rather have too much than too few but too much makes me sleep deprived…

@Ricky-Spanish Game Pass is Xbox!

@Millionski Thanks bud! I might just have to download it and give it a go then. Is it easy to put down and pick back up mid-puzzle / mid-level? Or is it something you really need to see through if you're in the middle of something in-game? I only ask, as... kids O_o

I can't keep up! But I try.

So long as they hold fast on the monthly price they might find thrifty gamers jumping ship.

They should bundle 6 months of ultimate with the Series S

@Godot25 xpass is gamebox 💃🕺

How is the quality of the games though, for example Avowed felt like it had great graphics but otherwise quite generic or should i give it another chance?

That said clair Obscur look great and south of midnight was a good adventure game but again SOM felt a little to safe or limited in content?

For money, for audience reach and so on it makes sense.

Gamepass and the Devs games for first party all vary of appeal to audiences I think most lack something but that's just me and what I seek not being there.

But with enough genre variety, fair creativity to them, types of games, design ideas of the modern era there (that I find boring or less creative but that's my opinion anyway).

I think they have. Fair strategy and where third parties don't or advertise as well Microsoft has Devs with enough appealing games of particular types or take their time to make and whatever they end up offering that works why not.

People aren't buying an Xbox unless dedicated, besides a PC/PS5/Switch or doing cloud or back compat , or quick resume matters to them do they really care.

Old and New gen it's money for third parties and 1st party don't offer.

Nintendo it's different their niche stuff is there the PS/Xbox don't offer that they leave to Indies or the one occasion of Pentiment type games.

Games of particular appeal/reach during periods of the year. Why not.

It gets people experiencing them without always a TV show either just games, marketing and reach everywhere.

Best value. I had to used some vacation days so I finally got around to play Indiana Jones on game pass and I beat one day before the release of CO Expedition 33.

But Im thinking of buying COB33 instead of playing it on Game Pass for a couple of reasons: With what little amount of free time I have, I probably cant beat it in a mont; I would also like to support the developer, I like how they released a game with great reviews with a lower than normal price.

Huh, well that's quite the narrative.