The announcement was one of many from last evening’s Game Awards broadcast and got lost in the shuffle amidst all of the world premieres, exclusive trailer drops and celebrity musical performances.
The name “Xbox Game Pass for PC” has always been a mouthful and didn’t even make that much sense when you thought about it for more than a second. After all, you don’t actually need an Xbox to access the library on a computer, so there’s no real need for the console’s name to be up front in that way.
Having clearly recognized that there was a bit of a branding problem, Microsoft has now renamed the subscription service to the much more sensible “PC Game Pass”.
Shortly after the Game Awards reveal, a fresh logo was shared by the official (and newly rebranded) PC Game Pass Twitter account. Debuting the artwork alongside a humorous post styled after patch notes, they wrote: “Logo has been updated. That’s it. Really that’s it”.
For those who are not familiar with the Game Pass service (either on the Xbox or PC) it’s comparable to something like Netflix. You pay a monthly subscription to Microsoft and, in return, you are given access to a collection of games that you can download and play without incurring an extra cost.
The library is constantly being updated, with titles being added and removed each month. For example, December 2021 has seen Halo Infinite and Aliens: Fireteam Elite being uploaded to the service. Of course, if a product is ever taken off Game Pass then you will no longer have access to it and will need to buy it separately.
It’s an extremely good deal for both PC and Xbox Gamers, with many blockbuster releases (including Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Psychonauts 2) launching on the platform on day one. You also get exclusive perks like free Disney Plus trials, an EA Play membership and discounts on certain expansion packs.
In addition to the welcome name change, it was revealed during The Game Awards 2021 that a few more titles are going to be added to the PC version of Game Pass. Specifically, the as-of-yet unreleased Sniper Elite 5, Pigeon Simulator (which is exactly what it sounds like) and Trek To Yomi are all going to debut on the service whenever they launch.
This will also be the case for an unidentified game by the British-based Hugecalf Studios.
