The new Xbox Game Pass service will opens to all users on June the 1st, offering 100+ games from both the current and last generation consoles through backward compatibility. The service takes what EA Access did so well but now spreads across multiple publishers. Xbox Live Gold members get to start early with access to the service right now.

The current list of titles available can be found here. It does cover a lot of old games presently (a great many 360 titles too) but having access to so much for a flat fee per month could represent a lot of savings for those wanting to game on a budget. As well as that members get a discount on purchasing anything that’s on the service, including DLC, which is useful to know if games ever end up being rotated out of the catalogue.

You can get your fair share of Halo through Xbox Game Pass.

The popular topic of discussion regarding the service is that it is similar to what Netflix offers. In the general sense I suppose it is in that you are offered a large amount of content for a small outlay.

But what really made the service take off were the exclusives and Netflix has become quite good at creating their own content that appeals to a wide audience. Microsoft on the other hand have stepped back from Xbox only games – the Xbox Play Anywhere program is the biggest example of that. As Game Pass takes off, I’d like to see Microsoft reverse that trend and bring back more console exclusives. It seems to be something they have at least considered but it may not happen if these early beginnings don’t succeed.

If the service helps to fund new titles it’ll be good for everyone. Getting a lot of games cheap is one thing but also being able to get access to great games that you can’t find anywhere else is another. It’s promising that Microsoft are aware of this so we’ll see how it plays out in the future and see if they can meet expectations.

What do you think? Is it a good idea? Please share in the comments below.