Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told investors this week that the company envisions bringing its Xbox Game Pass subscription to Windows 10 users. Xbox Game Pass launched in the summer of 2017 and costs $9.99 a month.
Xbox Game Pass will come to Windows PC eventually, Microsoft’s chief executive told investors on Wednesday.
“Whether it’s first-party games or third-party games, we are best-in-class in that monetization and that’s what’s reflected in the results,” said Satya Nadella during the company’s quarterly earnings call (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha). “So, given that structural position, we are going to make sure that we keep increasing the strength of the community. […] Obviously, bringing Game Pass to even the PC is going to be a big element of that.”
Xbox Game Pass already is available to Windows 10 users, technically, if they stream games to their PC from an Xbox One using the Xbox app for Windows 10. Nadella didn’t give any sort of timeline or details about how Game Pass would be integrated with PC.
Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service giving players access to an expanding library of hundreds of games for a $9.99 monthly fee, sort of like a Netflix for video games. It’s not a streaming service; users download the games, and can play them as long as their subscription is active (there is an option to purchase individual titles outright). The library comprises both Xbox One and Xbox 360 games. Xbox Game Pass launched in late May 2017.
Microsoft has made more of a point of integrating Windows 10 into its Xbox plans over the past few years. In 2016, the company introduced a Play Anywhere initiative that allows players to buy a game on Xbox One and get access to its Windows 10 version (and vice versa). In that year, six titles including Quantum Break, ReCore and Gears of War 4 all launched on both platforms on the same date.
In January, Microsoft promised that all Microsoft Studios-published games for Xbox One would be available to Game Pass subscribers on their launch day. Nadella’s statement on Wednesday would further cement Windows 10 as a launch partner with first-party Xbox One games going forward.
