We have a new rumor on how the upcoming Game Pass Standard is going to work, and you already know what part of the tier we are talking about.
Yesterday, we reported on Microsoft’s plans to add a new tier to Game Pass, replacing Console Game Pass, called Game Pass Standard. Game Pass Standard bundles in online multiplayer, allowing players at this tier to play online with everyone else, but removed Day One.
Since there seemed to be some confusion on this with other reports, we want to make it clear once again that current Console Game Pass subscribers can keep their subscriptions. It is even still possible to get a new Console Game Pass subscription now until they make the change effective this September. It will be after September that new subscribers will no longer get to choose Console Game Pass, and will instead be given the choice of Game Pass Standard.
Game Pass Standard losing Day One does not mean that those gamers are losing out on the games that are on Day One. Instead, what’s clear is those players will get access to those games after Day One. All Day One games are of course part of the library of games subscribers can play, and Microsoft pledged that all their own games will be Day One Game Pass.
Of course, it’s only natural for Game Pass Standard subscribers to expect that they get Microsoft’s own games, since that was part of Console Game Pass too. The thing is, Microsoft didn’t clarify how long Game Pass Standard subscribers would have to wait before they got those games. The fact that Microsoft games are part of Day One also muddles this question even further.
Jez Corden shared what he knows about this on Twitter in response to a tweet from Parris Lilly. Jez said:
“they told me case by case basis between 6 and 12 months and sometimes longer.”
Microsoft could always change their mind, and they didn’t even officially confirm this either. But this appears to be about the time frame that Microsoft waited before they held that now infamous experiment of bringing some of their own games to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, after they were published on Xbox and Windows.
But how this plays out isn’t really determined by how the fans are reacting right now. As I pointed out, Console Game Pass subscribers now won’t have to worry about these changes. This is a plan Microsoft has for what they anticipate will be future new subscribers to Game Pass, and they may be right to suspect that those new subscribers coming in for Call of Duty, will want to own their Call of Duty games, and get a subscription for online, with perhaps some additional games on top of it. Of course, we’ll have to see in a few months how this plays out.
