The Game Pass Experience

These days it seems like everything is trying to become a subscription service.  Not to be the exception, gaming has found its way into this modern trend.  I had been very on the fence about adding another subscription service to the list of things that I'm already paying for, but I decided to give XBox Game Pass (for PC) a try.  Recently, I decided to cancel my subscription.

Is Game Pass worth it?

If you haven't heard of Game Pass...well, that would be kind of weird, but I think as a PC gamer it's not as prevalent as it is on the console end.  The PC version of the service is in its infancy (it's currently in beta) and appears to be something that Microsoft is trying to grow.  I'm going to lay out the pros and cons of my short(ish) experience with the service.

Pros:
+ Low cost.  The PC version of Game Pass is not a full-fledged version but a beta version.  The benefit of being Microsoft's beta guinea pig is the fact that the cost of the service is only $1 for the first month  After your initial month is up, the price goes up to $14.99 for three months.  $5 a month isn't a bad price.  The price after that goes up even further.  It's still a bargain for those first months.

+ Decently sized game library with many different genres to choose from.  Currently, there are 197 games in the library.  If you're a fan of Microsoft's related major gaming titles (your Halo or Gears of War) those titles are front and center as part of the service.  The games available are blend of big name titles, smaller indie titles, and random weird games.  I prioritized my list as "absolutely want to play" and "would play," and worked through games that way.

+Easy to use.  All you have to do is install the Xbox app and everything is there.  I didn't have any problems using the app.

+ New games are added fairly frequently.

Cons
- The tradeoff for that low, low price I mentioned is being a beta guinea pig.  Every game you install gives you a prompt that Microsoft wants to monitor your activity while playing the game.  You have the option to click "no," but I have no idea what happens if you're unwilling to let the Microsoft overlords monitor your gameplay.

- No control over the version of game installed.  On Steam, at least there's notification about patches and hotfixes so you have some idea if something is being fixed.  I had some technical difficulties with the higher-end games on Game Pass--namely some known crashing issues in Metro:  Exodus.  When searching for a solution, many posts stated that all you needed to do to fix it was to launch the game in DirectX11 rather than 12--it should have been a simple matter of going into the options menu in the game and switching it.   The Game Pass version of the game doesn't give users that option and instead gave me a message about launching the game in "safe mode" after a crash.  The only time you could change the version was after a crash...  Many other reviews for games stated that the version available on Game Pass were not the same as on Steam and could be buggy.

- Installation/uninstallation weirdness.  Something to be aware of is the fact that Game Pass wants to install on the same drive as your OS.  If you have a smaller SSD you use for Windows 10 it's going to want to install the games there by default.  You have to go into your settings and change your default installation drive or you're going to fill up that space really quickly (I use a larger HDD for my game storage).

When it comes to uninstalling games, I noticed that after removing a game that the space wasn't being freed up on my drives.  The game files you download (which are very large for a game like Metro:  Exodus) are not fully removed when you uninstall them and instead are reserved as "delivery optimization" files which require you to go into your disk management menu and mark them for deletion.  It's obnoxious.

- Social features, reviews, and other stuff that PC gamers would associate with a Steam-like experience is in its infancy.  It feels like they're trying to add it in, but it's pretty bare bones right now (which is to be expected with a beta version).

- Menus are weird and can be hard to navigate.  If you want to browse through the list of all the games you have to navigate through all of them in alphabetical order.  The menus load slowly and if you click on a game to check it out, it starts you over at the beginning...every damn time!

- Games rotated out fairly frequently.  I put this as a pro, because you can count on new games being worked into the rotation, but at the same time it can be irritating to have a game on your list and then find out it's going away.  I had this experience with a few games on my list.  You have no control over what's added or what's taken away.

Recommendation:
For $1 I got to play a bunch of great games that I really wanted to play.  The cost of purchasing all those games would be considerably higher.  I got a chance to try them and decide which ones I would consider purchasing (not through Microsoft though....).  Barring the weirdness I mentioned in the cons, Game Pass would be a good option for someone who is looking for affordable gaming options.  There are enough quality games that you can find things you want to play--for me, those games eventually ran out and I didn't feel like paying for games that I only kind of wanted to play (it's still cheap though).  You're going to have to agree to some monitoring that some people won't like.