Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Xbox Game Pass officially opens its doors to Gold subscribers ahead of June 1

By

Following a limited trial in the Xbox Insider Program, all Xbox One owners with a subscription to Xbox Live Gold can now check out Xbox Game Pass early. It is the company’s new monthly subscription service for playing 100-plus Xbox One and backward compatible Xbox 360 games. Game Pass doesn’t officially launch to the masses until June 1, thus Microsoft is now giving Gold members a sneak peek and a headstart on the 14-day free trial.

Microsoft’s subscription service may appear to compete with directly Sony’s PlayStation Now service, but the two are completely different animals. On the Sony front, gamers on the PlayStation 4 and Windows PC can stream more than 450 PS3 and PS4 games for $20 each month ($50 for three months). Meanwhile, Microsoft’s new service provides just over 100 games for $10 a month, but they are downloaded for local play on the Xbox One console.

Recommended Videos

For the Xbox One, Microsoft’s new subscription service dishes out a number of popular titles including Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Halo 5: Guardians, Mad Max, and Sunset Overdrive. So far, there are 40 titles developed for the Xbox One console in the subscription, addressing multiple genres spanning action, simulation, platforming, and so on.

Here what we have at launch:

Please enable Javascript to view this content
#IDARB Halo:
Spartan Assault		 Mega Man
Legacy Collection		 Steredenn
Blood Bowl 2 KYUB NBA 2K16 Strider
Brothers:
A Tale of Two Sons		 JumpJet Rex OlliOlli Sunset Overdrive
D4: Dark Dreams
Don’t Die		 Knight Squad Payday 2:
Crimewave Edition		 Super Mega Baseball:
Extra Innings
Devil May Cry
Definitive Edition		 Layers of Fear Pumped BMX+ Super Time Force
Defense Grid 2 Lumo Resident Evil 0 Terraria
Electronic Super Joy Mad Max Roundabout The Book of
Unwritten Tales 2
Farming Simulator
15		 Massive Chalice Saints Row IV:
Re-Elected		 The Golf Club
Gears of War:
Ultimate Edition
Day One Edition		 Max: The Curse
of Brotherhood		 ScreamRide The Swapper
Halo 5: Guardians Mega Coin Squad Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse WWE 2K16

As for the Xbox 360 titles, Microsoft’s library is substantially larger with 72 games. This portion includes big hitters such as the BioShock trilogy, Borderlands, Fable III, all four Gears of War titles, LEGO Batman, Sacred 3, and XCOM: Enemy Within. There are a lot to choose from, as the library covers a wider range of genres including RPG and Action/RPG.

Here is the full Xbox 360 list:

A Kingdom
for Keflings		 De Blob 2 Joe Danger
Special Edition		 Samurai Showdown II
A World
of Keflings		 Defense Grid Joy Ride Turbo Sega Vintage Collection:
Alex Kidd & Co.
Age of Booty Dig Dug Kameo Sega Vintage Collection:
Golden Axe
Banjo-Kazooie Double Dragon Neon King of Fighters ’98
Ultimate Match		 Sega Vintage Collection:
Monster World
Banjo Kazooie:
Nuts & Bolts		 Dungeons & Dragons:
Chronicles of
Mystaria		 LEGO Batman Sega Vintage Collection:
Streets of Rage
Banjo-Tooie Fable III Metal Slug 3 Soulcalibur
Bionic Commando:
Rearmed 2		 Final Fight:
Dblimpact		 Monday Night Combat Soulcalibur II HD
BioShock Flock! Ms. Splosion Man Spelunky
BioShock 2 Galaga Legions DX MX vs. ATV Reflex Splosion Man
BioShock Infinite Gears Of War N+ Stacking
Borderlands Gears of War 2 NeoGeo
Battle Coliseum		 Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Bound by Flame Gears of War 3 Operation Flashpoint:
Dragon Rising		 The Maw
Braid Gears of War: Judgement Pac-Man CE DX+ Toy Soldiers
Capcom Arcade Cabinet GRID 2 Pac-Man Museum Toy Soldiers:
Cold War
CastleStorm Hexic 3 Perfect Dark Zero Virtua Fighter 5
Final Showdown
Comic Jumper Iron Brigade Sacred 3 Viva Pinata
Comix Zone Jetpac Refueled Sam & Max
Beyond Space and Time		 Viva Pinata:
Trouble in Paradise
Dark Void Joe Danger 2:
The Movie		 Sam & Max
Save The World		 XCOM:
Enemy Within

Note that both libraries are not set in stone, as Microsoft plans to swap out games each month so the two libraries remain somewhat fresh. Subscribers who want to continue playing a game before it is pulled from the subscription can purchase a digital copy with a 20 percent price reduction, and a 10 percent price reduction on all related add-ons.

Microsoft plans to offer a “retail” version of the Xbox Game Pass later this year.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
Xbox Game Pass is coming to your LG smart TV
Key art for Cloud Gaming through the Xbox app.

At CES 2025, LG and Microsoft announced that an Xbox app is coming to LG smart TVs sometime this year.

The Xbox app is already available on newer Samsung TVs, and it lets people try out Game Pass Ultimate titles via cloud gaming, even if they don't own an Xbox Series X or S console.

Read more
3 games leaving Xbox Game Pass you should play this weekend (December 27-29)
A cast of Blazblue Cross Tag Battle pose together.

We're approaching New Year's Eve, and several games will be leaving Xbox Game Pass on that day. If you're wondering what you should play this weekend and are a Game Pass subscriber, you should give these games a shot before they leave Microsoft's video game subscription service. Specifically, I'm highlighting two charming indie games and a bombastic crossover fighting game this week.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Special Edition
『BLAZBLUE CROSS TAG BATTLE Special Edition』 on Xbox — Announce Trailer | Xbox Game Pass

BlazBlue is a long-running Japanese fighting game franchise. It hasn't managed to break out worldwide in quite the same way Guilty Gear did, but the closest it got was with BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. This game took the hardcore fighting mechanics and stunning anime-inspired visuals of the series and used it for a 2v2 tag-team crossover game. While BlazBlue characters are still part of Cross Tag Battle's roster, it features several guest fighters from RWBY, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, Arcana Heart, Senran Kagura, and Akatsuki EN-Eins. It's an eclectic mix of fighters you won't find in any other game, so Cross Tag Battle is worth a shot if you're a fan of any of the franchises featured in this crossover.

Read more
3 games leaving Xbox Game Pass you should play this weekend (December 20-22)
A custom car built drives around Lego 2K Drive.

No more new games are coming to Xbox Game Pass for the rest of 2024. In fact, the service is going to lose some games at the end of the month. All of the games leaving the service on December 31 are very entertaining, and the lineup encompasses wacky racing games, hardcore strategy games about the history of humanity, and goofy fighting games where players control cute animals. These games are worth checking out this weekend as they're leaving Microsoft's gaming subscription service very soon.
Lego 2K Drive
LEGO 2K Drive | Awesome Reveal Trailer | Coming May 19

Racing games are some of the most approachable ones out there, so it makes sense that the genre would be a perfect fit for a Lego game. Visual Concepts and 2K went a step further than they had to with Lego 2K Drive, though, adding large open areas full of missions and minigames to experience. Lego 2K Drive is a light and breezy arcade-like racer that doesn't ask too much from players unless they want to spend a lot of time building vehicles piece by piece. After this game leaves the service at the end of the month, Forza Horizon 5 will be your only option when it comes to open-world racing games on Xbox Game Pass.

Read more