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

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xbox game pass live gold subscribers
Image used with permission by copyright holder
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.

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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:

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#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.

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Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
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