Today, Microsoft will hold its E3 2021 Presentation, which will shed light on some of the biggest games scheduled to release on Xbox consoles. Several days before Microsoft's E3 presentation, the company revealed its plans on how it will approach gaming in the future. Unsurprisingly, much of Microsoft's plans are centered around the Xbox Game Pass.
For several months now, Microsoft has been pouring its time and effort into making Game Pass its premiere subscription service by giving players access to hundreds of games. Additionally, Microsoft's acquisition of several developers such as Bethesda will ensure the presence of Xbox exclusive games on Game Pass on day one. However, it appears that the company has more plans for Xbox Game Pass, and here is a breakdown of everything the company is working on right now.
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In a video released by the official Xbox YouTube account, Xbox exec Phil Spencer revealed Microsoft's commitment to Xbox Game Pass and cloud gaming. One major innovation that the Xbox team is currently working on is establishing partnerships with global TV manufacturers to integrate Xbox gaming directly into internet-enabled smart TVs without additional hardware. Of course, it is interesting to see how Microsoft plans to achieve this, given that doing so could cannibalize the sales of its Xbox consoles. However, it appears that Microsoft is moving towards becoming a subscription service provider rather than a console manufacturer, but that remains to be seen as the project is still in development.
Additionally, Xbox is currently working on introducing a wide variety of subscription offerings for the Xbox Game Pass. There are currently $10/month options for either console or PC, or players can simply get Game Pass Ultimate for $15/month, including the benefits offered by Xbox Live Gold. At the moment, Xbox did not reveal any details as to how it will offer several options for Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. However, the company did state that it will expand cloud gaming through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to several territories, including Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan, later this year.
As far as games are concerned, Microsoft revealed that it would continue its commitment to bringing more triple-A games on the Xbox Game Pass, some of which will be available on day one. It is worth remembering that the company was able to release Outriders to the Xbox Game Pass right at the start, and it is expected that more games would follow suit. In addition, Microsoft's acquisition of several video game studios would ensure more exclusives coming to Xbox players, and some of them could be revealed at today's event. Nonetheless, Microsoft is proud of what the Xbox Game Pass has achieved especially since the service has grown to 18 million users. According to Microsoft, Xbox expects "incredibly high engagement" from gamers who purchased the Xbox Series X and S.
While the future looks certainly bright for the Xbox Game Pass, the same couldn't be said for Microsoft's other subscription service, the Xbox Live Gold. Ever since the release of Xbox Series X and S last November, the quality of free games released to the service plummeted, which resulted in players questioning its value. Not to mention, Microsoft continues to refuse to add Xbox Series X and S games to Xbox Free Games with Gold, which puts its subscribers at a disadvantage given that Sony's PS Plus has been able to offer PS5 games since the console's release.
In the end, it is difficult to predict whether Microsoft will ever decide to phase out Xbox Live Gold in the future, especially since the company reiterated last year that it has no plans to discontinue the service. However, one sure thing is that the future of the Xbox Game Pass is bright, given all the plans and innovations that Microsoft has in store for the service.
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