New Xbox Game Pass Standard details emerge and it’s not looking good
Nice console games
Microsoft
has
revealed
new
details
about
its
newly
released
Xbox
Game
Pass
Standard
tier
and
it’s
really
not
looking
good.
A
recent
post
to
the
Xbox
Wire
blog
outlines
the
new
Xbox
Game
Pass
structure,
in
which
Standard
is
intended
to
replace
the
now
defunct
Xbox
Game
Pass
for
Console
membership.
Standard
includes
Xbox
Game
Pass
Core
(formerly
Xbox
Live
Gold)
for
access
to
online
play.
This
is
in
addition
to
a
library
of
“hundreds
of
high-quality
console
games”
that
are
not
included
in
Core.
Unlike
Xbox
Game
Pass
for
Console,
however,
this
game
library
does
not
feature
titles
that
are
considered
‘day
one’
releases
or
those
that
are
part
of
the
separate
EA
Play
catalog.
Standard
also
does
not
offer
access
to
Xbox
Cloud
Gaming,
which
is
instead
restricted
to
the
more
premium
Xbox
Game
Pass
Ultimate
tier.
It’s
all
pretty
confusing,
but
some
new
filters
that
were
just
added
to
the
Xbox
website
allow
us
to
see
what
this
all
means
in
practical
terms.
Firstly,
you
can
see
that
the
Xbox
Game
Pass
Standard
library
is
currently
comprised
of
370
games,
which
is
138
fewer
than
the
508
included
with
Ultimate
and
the
old
Console
tier.
(Image
credit:
Microsoft)
There
are
also
many
notable
absences
in
the
Standard
library,
including
big
hits
like
Call
of
Duty:
Modern
Warfare
3,
Diablo
4,
Forza
Motorsport,
Senua’s
Saga:
Hellblade
2,
Valorant,
and
even
Starfield.
Some
smaller
games
like
Botany
Manor
and
Little
Kitty,
Big
City
are
gone
too.
On
top
of
all
this,
the
lack
of
EA
Play
titles
also
means
that
older
EA
games
like
Alice:
Madness
Returns,
Burnout
Paradise
Remastered,
and
Battlefield
5,
are
missing.
It’s
a
pretty
big
blow,
especially
considering
that
something
like
Starfield
is
close
to
a
year
old
at
this
point
so
hardly
a
“day
one”
release
any
more.
Going
forward,
it
seems
likely
that
Standard
subscribers
will
have
to
wait
at
least
twelve
months
for
access
to
some
of
the
latest
games.
Considering
the
fact
that
Xbox
Game
Pass
Standard
costs
$14.99
/
£10.99
a
month
and
replaced
a
far
more
generous
service
in
Xbox
Game
Pass
for
Console,
it’s
hard
not
to
be
disappointed
by
this
relatively
lackluster
offering.
Xbox
Game
Pass
Standard
is
available
now
for
Xbox
Series
X,
Xbox
Series
S,
and
Xbox
One.
