GRcade

KjGarly wrote:So I'm guessing when one leaves that's it you can't even carry on playing it till you purchase it or it hits GWG? Not bothered about Mad Max as it was a PS Plus title and I own it on Steam but just so I know about other Game Pass games I currently have downloaded (ROTTR, Sunset Overdrive, Halo 5)

KjGarly wrote:So I'm guessing when one leaves that's it you can't even carry on playing it till you purchase it or it hits GWG? Not bothered about Mad Max as it was a PS Plus title and I own it on Steam but just so I know about other Game Pass games I currently have downloaded (ROTTR, Sunset Overdrive, Halo 5)

twitter.com/Xbox/status/999636142596255745

And be sure to keep an eye out for more awesome game announcements coming soon.

Xbox Game Pass Has a Remarkable First Year Creating New Opportunities for Gamers and Developers

So, how is Game Pass creating new opportunities for both gamers and developers? In its first year, Xbox Game Pass has proven to be great for both gamers and game developers as an additive means to drive discovery and engagement of games. The freedom to explore and play more great games is changing gaming habits in incredibly positive ways.

After joining Xbox Game Pass, Game Pass members are playing more games than ever before — not only games in the Game Pass catalog, but also other Xbox games outside the catalog. As a result, we’re seeing more active players for games across the board, which is having a notable positive impact for our publishers and developers, including increased sales for games in Xbox Game Pass.

It’s also been exciting to see titles in Xbox Game Pass experience revived gaming communities across a variety of genres and franchises. Games in Xbox Game Pass have a longer tail of engagement, sustain their community and help developers connect with new audiences than before. What’s more, those same community members often go on to then try the next major release from those franchises thanks to being introduced to new genres and content they may not have otherwise explored, simply by having unlimited access through the Xbox Game Pass catalog.

Xbox Game Pass. The Xbox Game Pass catalog continues to expand, with exciting new blockbuster titles available to members starting today, including Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited and Tom Clancy’s The Division. Microsoft also announced several notable titles launching through the ID@Xbox program that will be coming to Xbox Game Pass this year to coincide with their debut on Xbox One. These include Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Ashen, Afterparty and Phoenix Point, as well as blockbusters from some of our biggest first-party franchises such as Forza Horizon 4, Crackdown 3, Gears 5 and Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which will release later in 2018 and beyond.

E3 2018: Jump into Games Twice as Fast with FastStart

Here at Xbox, we love to play games just as much as you do, so we understand how frustrating it can be to have to wait to play a game after you start downloading it. And with Xbox Game Pass, there are more reasons than ever to explore the catalog and find your next favorite game. That’s why we’re excited to announce FastStart, a new innovation from our Xbox Platform team that allows you to jump into your games twice as fast and play after downloading just a fraction of it.

Here’s how it works: FastStart identifies which files are needed to begin playing and prioritizes the download of those files first, enabling you to quickly jump into full-fidelity gameplay while the remainder of your title downloads in the background. Simply find the FastStart-enabled title you want to play in our catalog, hit ‘Download’ and your console will take care of the rest. It’s that simple.

Unlike the current “Ready to Start” system, which is manually configured during development, FastStart uses machine learning based on how gamers actually play each game. What’s more, as an Xbox platform-level feature, developers will not be required to do any extra work for their titles to experience the benefits of FastStart. While FastStart does not speed up download times, by identifying which files are needed to begin gameplay and prioritizing the download of those files first, you can expect to jump into your game, on average, twice as fast as you did previously. That means if a game previously took 30 minutes to download and play, you will now be able to begin gameplay after just 15 minutes. In addition, since FastStart takes advantage of machine learning, we will continue to improve our algorithm over time getting players into the fun as soon as possible.

Games will still download based on your local bandwidth, and you’ll need to have an internet connection with at least a 20Mbps download speed to take advantage of FastStart. That minimum speed helps maximize the number of users who can take advantage of FastStart while minimizing the possibility of experiencing gameplay interruptions.

You won’t have to wait long to experience the benefits of FastStart, as it will launch soon as part of the June update. For our initial release, a select number of popular titles will be enabled for FastStart. We’ll begin with English language versions of titles in our Xbox Game Pass catalog and then will expand to more games in more languages over time that are in Xbox Game Pass and on the Xbox platform. For a list of supported titles when FastStart launches and for full details, visit https://aka.ms/FastStartGames and stay tuned to Xbox Wire for more on FastStart.