Microsoft says Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC

Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service is heading to PC, according to CEO Satya Nadella, speaking during the company's latest quarterly earnings call.

Game Pass launched last summer on Xbox One, offering access to a growing library of games as part of a £7.99/$10 USD a month subscription. Currently, over 200 titles are included as part of the service, with all new Xbox One games, such as Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 4, being added to its library on release day.

Additionally, all new first-party games now launch simultaneously on Xbox One and PC as part of Microsoft's Play Anywhere scheme, with Game Pass subscribers given free access to both. As such, it's already possible for PC players to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass in order to get unlimited access to these titles - but older games and third-party offerings remain the domain of Xbox, meaning that strictly-PC-only players can't fully reap the benefits of a subscription.

That may soon change, however; during a discussion around communities on Microsoft's platforms, Nadella said (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha), "Xbox has the key gaming community and the monetisation capabilities. Whether it's first-party games or third-party games, we are best-in-class in that monetisation and that's what's reflected in the results.

"So given that structural position, we are going to make sure that we keep increasing the strength of the community. You see that already with Minecraft going to all platforms and that increasing the intensity of the community and you'll see us do more of that. Obviously, bringing Game Pass to even the PC is going to be a big element of that."

Since launch, Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service has been extremely well-received, thanks to its perceived value among players and its constantly expanding collection of titles. If Microsoft can offer a similarly sized library of PC games in the future, there's no reason why Game Pass shouldn't be equally successful on PC.