Key Takeaways
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Xbox Game Pass Core is the cheapest option at $10/month, providing access to online multiplayer for paid games and a small catalog of playables.
- Game Pass Standard costs $15/month and offers online play, a larger library of several hundred games, but no day-one releases.
- Game Pass Ultimate at $20/month provides the most value with access to both Xbox and PC games, day-one releases, cloud gaming, and EA Play.
Xbox Game Pass has changed a lot over the years, and with the introduction of the Standard tier it’s changed again. So what’s the difference, and which one is going to be the best for you in terms of value, features, and how you play your games?
The Game Pass Experience
Regardless of which Game Pass tier you opt for, the basic offering of the service is the same: you pay a subscription fee and gain access to a library of games that you can play without having to buy them individually.
It’s a lot like any streaming service on TV. The big difference in all of these different Game Pass tiers is how much you pay and which games will be accessible to you and when.
Game Pass is also the new Xbox Live Gold, if you remember that. You’ll need to subscribe to Game Pass Core at the bare minimum if you want to gain access to online multiplayer unless it’s a free-to-play online game.
Xbox Game Pass Core is the Cheapest Option
Xbox Game Pass Core is the most basic level of Game Pass, but it does come with some decent benefits for its asking price of $10 a month. Most notably, this level grants you access to online multiplayer for paid Xbox games. You won’t need it for Apex Legends or World of Tanks, but you will need it for a new Call of Duty title or Tekken 8.
Game Pass Core also gives you access to a library of games, but not a very big one. The Core library is usually only a few dozen games at any given time. Some of these titles might be very popular, but the selection isn’t as robust as the other tiers of Game Pass. The Core library does not get new additions very often, and it practically never gets Day 1 releases.
Game Pass Core doesn’t come with extra services either, like EA Play, which grants you access to a library of EA games. Some games that are not part of the Core library may occasionally get free play days, during which time you’ll be able to play a game you don’t otherwise own.
Paying for Game Pass Core will give you access to some members’ deals and discounts. For example, many of the games in the Game Pass Core library can be purchased at a discounted price if you are subscribed. DLC or in-game currency for games in the library may also be discounted from time to time.
Xbox Game Pass Standard is a Solid All-Rounder
Game Pass Standard is the newest tier of the subscription service, but it’s not really that different from the Core tier. Standard offers all of the same benefits as Core, including online multiplayer access for paid games and select discounts.
The primary difference offered by this $15 tier is the larger library of games. While Game Pass Core only grants you access to two dozen games or so, Standard offers a library of several hundred games, with new ones being added to it fairly regularly. Unfortunately, Standard will still not grant you access to day-one releases on Xbox.
On the other hand, those day-one releases may eventually become available in the Game Pass Standard library, but according to Microsoft, that wait time could be up to twelve months.
The exact wait time will vary by title, but you can bet the most popular releases will take a long time to reach Game Pass Standard. Microsoft will definitely keep those for the next tier, to tempt people to pay up.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Has the Most (For a Price)
If you are willing to pay $20 each month, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will give you the most bang for your buck by a long shot. Naturally, you’ll get the basic stuff that every tier offers, including multiplayer for paid online games and discounts for certain titles and DLC. Outside of that, Ultimate offers some standout features..
First of all, paying for Ultimate not only gets you access to a library of Xbox games, but a library of PC games too. Some games may only be available on PC, so Ultimate can open up entirely new possibilities for you. Ultimate also grants you access to select day one titles, as in, a brand new game that just released will be part of the library of games you can play with your subscription.
Ultimate offers a couple of other special features too, such as special quests and perks you can use to gain redeemable rewards. You’ll gain access to EA Play, which includes a library of EA-specific games. Finally, Game Pass Ultimate will also give you access to cloud gaming, though the value of that is dependent on your internet speed.
With cloud gaming, you can play a game straight from the cloud, without having to physically download the game to your Xbox or PC. This is pretty nice if the game you want to play is huge and would take forever to download. This means you can hop into any game from the Game Pass library almost instantly, even on a mobile device.
People with poor or unreliable internet speeds probably won’t have a great experience with it, especially for multiplayer games. Still, it is a perk unique to Game Pass Ultimate.
Which Tier is Right For You?
When it comes to deciding which Game Pass tier is best for you, you’ve got to ask what you really care to have. If you just want to be able to play your paid Xbox games online, Core is good enough and cheaper. If you want a big library of games to play, Standard will do you just fine, though it has some limitations.
If money is no object and you want the most value possible out of your subscription, Ultimate is definitely worth the price, though it largely depends on how much you care about cloud gaming, EA titles, or day-one access to new games. If you don’t care about any of those, you could just go for standard and save yourself $5.
And if you have friends or family to consider, keep in mind that you can share your Game Pass subscription with them, so you might want to see what features they would like to have too.
