There are three different tiers of Game Pass. No matter which platform you're on, you can download as many games from Game Pass as you want and play them whenever you want - as long as they remain on the Game Pass service. On PC, the games are listed in the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 and Windows 11, and you can browse through them with the Xbox app. The service works on the Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One X, Xbox One S, and Xbox One. On Xbox, the games included in Game Pass can be downloaded to your console just like any regular digital game purchase. The exact pricing varies by region and which tier you select, but it generally works out to be cheaper than buying 2-3 new major games at launch each year. It's intended as an alternative to buying every single game you want individually - an expensive proposition when many new major titles start at $70. Xbox Game Pass gives you unlimited access to a collection of games for one monthly cost.

The service has grown substantially since then, with more games, a partnership with publisher EA, a PC option, and experimental cloud gaming support. At the start, it had around 100 games that you could download and install on your Xbox console - there was no PC or cloud support at the time. Microsoft introduced Game Pass back in 2017 as a simple $9.99 per month subscription service.

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