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Xbox’s new Game Pass Standard tier of service is being offered to gamers in the console’s Insiders test program beginning today.
The mid-range subscription, announced last month alongside a $3 price increase to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier of service, gives players access to the Game Pass library but not the day-and-date new releases that give Ultimate so much of its value.
Xbox Wire said on Tuesday that Standard-tier subscribers could wait as long as a year to see these brand-new games in their libraries. Xbox Game Pass Standard, whose full price is $14.99 per month, also does not include access to the EA Play library of games.
In early June, Microsoft hiked the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $16.99 per month to $19.99 per month. Game Pass Ultimate is basically everything the company offers in its subscription services — the full, monthly-curated catalog of games; the same-day launches (usually from first party studios) Xbox is constantly touting; access to EA Play’s library as well as Game Pass access on a Windows PC.
PC Game Pass, which is basically Xbox Game Pass Ultimate without console access, went up from $9.99 per month to $11.99 per month. Xbox Game Pass Core — which was rebranded from Xbox Live Gold in September 2023 with the end of the Games With Gold program — remains a $9.99 monthly subscription, though its annual price goes from $59.99 to $74.99 (basically a $44.89 savings if bought in bulk instead of month-to-month).
How does the new tier change Game Pass’s offerings overall?
Xbox Game Pass Core confers multiplayer access like Xbox Live Gold, but the library of “free games” is a separate group of 25 games and does not include any same-day Game Pass launches.
Microsoft did not say when the new Standard tier would launch (other than “coming soon.”) Insiders who are Game Pass Core members with fewer than two months of service on their accounts can sign up to try Standard for $1 per month during the preview period. They just ask that previewers share feedback.
Featured image via Xbox Wire
