The launch of theXbox Series Xand theXbox Series Son November 10 has come and gone. Both consoles remain sold out and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. It’s a feat that’s incredibly impressive, given that for the first time ever Xbox launched its new console with no exclusives. There’s one very good reason for that, however: theXbox Series X/Slaunch support for the Xbox Game Pass subscription. Early reporting indicates that early Xbox Series X/S adopters are subscribing in massive numbers.
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Keep in mind that Xbox Game Pass is not required for any Xbox Series X/S functionality.Xbox Live Goldis still necessary to play online games, but the Xbox team didn’t share the adoption rate of the Xbox Live Gold subscription rate. Xbox Live Gold would assumedly be more popular than Game Pass as a result. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate does bundle together both Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass, though. Perhaps Xbox Live Gold’s popularity is pulling up Xbox Game Pass at the same time.
Game Pass' popularity is self-explanatory, however. Xbox Series X/S exclusives aren’t as necessary whenXbox Game Pass grants access to over 100 different gamesfor a surprisingly low price. Those games may not be optimized for the new Xbox consoles' improved performance, but they’ll still see improvements in areas like loading times.
The largest benefits of Xbox Game Pass are yet to come, too. While the Xbox team may not have any major releases planned for the Xbox Series X/S launch, they have an impressive list of upcoming Xbox Game Studios titles in development. 343’sHalo InfiniteandBethesda’sStarfieldare just two examples, and each of those first-party games is expected to be available on Xbox Game Pass day one at no extra cost.
With that in mind, as exciting as a 70% adoption rate ofGame Pass on Xbox Series X/Sis, the Xbox team likely wants to see that number even higher. If 70% can be achieved without a major game release driving up subscriptions, then higher subscription rates should be more than attainable. Nevertheless, it’s an excellent start.
TheXbox Series XandXbox Series Sare available now.
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