

A premium tier known as Game Pass Ultimate includes access to both services, an on-demand cloud gaming service available on console, PC, and mobile platforms, and Xbox Live Gold subscription benefits. Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are available as separate subscription products. The service consists of two products Xbox Game Pass for Xbox One, Series X, and Series S consoles, and PC Game Pass for PCs running Windows 10 and Windows 11. Game Pass subscribers also receive discounts on purchases of games from the service's library and their respective downloadable content (DLC). Launched on June 1, 2017, the service allows users to download and play video games for Xbox video game consoles or Microsoft Windows PCs from a rotating library, with the games remaining accessible as long as the user has an active subscription. If money isn't an issue, then ball out with a Series X, XBGPU and as many physical games as you want.įor more We Do The Math, check out if Trader Joe's is cheaper than other grocery stores, whether a meal kit is cheaper than buying groceries at the store or how much you could save by going meatless for one day a week.Game Pass is a subscription service offered by Microsoft as part of Xbox network. You have unlimited access to over 400 games as compared to buying a few physical games, plus you can play online with your friends. And if you already have a console, XBGPU is still a great deal. If you're on a budget and want access to hundreds of games and online play, you should consider a Series S with XBGPU.

However, an XBGP subscription doesn't include Xbox Live Gold, so you'd have to pay for that separately or upgrade to XBGPU for the same cost. If you have XBGPU then Xbox Live Gold is included with your subscription, so you don't have to include that cost with your plan and you have access to the game library. If you already own either console though, you can scroll down for a yearly price breakdown of just the gaming service versus buying physical copies of the games. It's important to include both, since the Series S is the more budget-friendly option, but the Series X has more gaming capabilities. The Series X has a disc drive, so it can play either digital or physical copies of games.

The Series S is a digital-only console with no disc drive, so it can't play physical copies of games. To calculate the costs, I started with the cost of the Series S, $300, and Series X, $500, since you need a console to play games on.
