Gaming on a PC? You Really Need to Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

I have a preference for Sony's PS3 consoles, but I have recently become a fan of Microsoft's Game Pass Ultimate. My Steam library is bristling with unplayed titles, and my kids have an appetite for new games. I wasn't sure about the quality of Game Pass. It was getting expensive to buy games for my family.

Paying $60 for a game they must have, only to find they're bored with it after a week was not sustainable. My wife and I only buy games that we know we'll like, which is an alien concept for kids. My crestfallen daughter was the one who persuaded me to sign up. Hearing laughter as she spends hours with her friends in Sea of Thieves and Human Fall Flat goes a long way to justifying the cost, but what has made Game Pass ULTIMATE a vital part of our household are the PC games.

My kids and I like to play games that we might have missed. Game Pass allows us to drop titles we don't like. It's easier to take a chance on something than it is to stick with a game. We are playing a lot of video games.

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There are a lot of games.

Game Pass Ultimate is a subscription service that invites you to an all-you-can- eat buffet at a table filled with hundreds of games for a monthly fee. Nearly 500 games are included for both platforms, so you can install and play games on either platform. You can play console games without installing anything on your device. You can get a PC or console plan for $10 per month if you don't have an Xbox but have a PC.

There are games in every genre in the current Game Pass lineup. It was not always so. Five years ago, Game Pass was only available on the Microsoft platform. The Game Pass for PC and the Ultimate tier that combined them didn't arrive until two years later.

Microsoft has beefed up the Game Pass back catalog and lined up an impressive slate of launch day titles by forging close deals with publishers and acquiring a steady stream of talented game developers. I've been playing the games for weeks. I liked The Outer Worlds but didn't buy it on release. I wouldn't buy any of the old favorites again, but I have had the nostalgic blast of old favorites.

My kids like to play games like Two Point Campus and Sims 4 when they aren't playing with friends. Game Pass Ultimate is so irresistible because it has a great selection of games to play. Even better is the cloud gaming option, which allows you to play games on virtually any device, without having to download or free up space for installation.

There are caveats and competition.

There are some things that need to be said about the service. We all love the option to try multiple games with Game Pass Ultimate, but both cloud gaming and my willingness to download more games bank on high-speed internet is something I don't like. It would not have been possible before fiber came to my area. We used to have to plan in advance.