Xbox Game Pass for PC is not good enough
Source: Matt Dark-brown | Windows Fundamental
Xbox Game Pass has go Microsoft's most important innovation in recent years, bringing a huge unique selling point to the Xbox platform, giving gamers 1 of the best-value services the manufacture has to offer. The full listing of games in Xbox Game Pass continues to swell, with hotly anticipated titles similar Halo Space and Starfield on the horizon as day-1 inclusions.
A lot of the emphasis tends to fall on Xbox Game Pass for consoles, though. Xbox is correct there in the name, afterward all. Xbox Game Pass also has a sister service, called Xbox Game Pass for PC. You can get Game Laissez passer for PC with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, or as a separate service. Game Pass for PC also includes dozens upon dozens of high-quality games, including coveted PC titles like Football game Director, and soon Age of Empires IV.
Xbox Game Pass for PC should be a driver of growth in the service. PC has one of the largest audiences out there, total of value-witting consumers looking for a skillful bargain. The reality is, however, that Xbox Game Pass for PC is an utterly sub-par experience in many respects, to the point that no amount of great games could offset how frustrating information technology is to use as a platform.
If Microsoft wants to see increased adoption in its key growth areas, especially PC, the service needs a massive quality injection.
The Xbox app's quality is awful
Source: Windows Central
The focal bespeak of my issues with Xbox Game Pass for PC revolves around the Xbox app for Windows ten. Information technology's a marked improvement over the UWP "Xbox Companion App" of yesteryear, but that bar couldn't possibly have been lower. Sadly, Microsoft's stride of updates and improvements to the Xbox app on Windows x has crawled to a snail'southward pace, and information technology'southward becoming unacceptable.
The first issue with the Xbox app on Windows 10 is just plainly ol' speed. Microsoft: Y'all're competing with Steam and Discord for a lot of the features y'all're offering hither. Expecting users to take the painfully slow, well, everything given that competition exists just a click or 2 away isn't smart business concern.
Yous'd call back that fewer features would atomic number 82 to a more streamlined, speedier app. Apparently, that's not the case.
Sending messages on Xbox Live through the Xbox app is a painfully boring experience. Right-clicking menus and general navigation is held up by the loading of assets from the web, which is just poor blueprint. If I click on something, the action should be instantaneous, in all scenarios. The fact the Xbox app tin't offer this, while Steam, and even the Epic Games Store, tin can, is a big problem.
The Xbox app is also missing tons of features that competing platforms offer. The ability to right-click on a game on your library to access more settings is something Microsoft's Windows platform has been training me to do for years. There's no such characteristic on offer here. I can't hide or sort games in my library. I tin't practice anything to configure the way or layout of the app. I can't create playlists. There are no mod libraries, no discussion boards, no community features beyond the incredibly useless "your friends play this" list. There's no mode to run across developer updates at a glance. There's no fashion to see patch notes easily. I could go on.
Seriously, what exactly is the intent hither? You'd think that fewer features would pb to a more streamlined, speedier app. Patently, that's non the instance. I was forgiving of the Xbox app when information technology launched, but information technology has since shed the (beta) tag long ago. Time to get serious nearly this stuff, I'd say, Microsoft.
Windows 10's game delivery organisation merely obviously sucks
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Fundamental
My most hated characteristic of the modern Windows platform by far is the app package delivery organization, which has never really been fit for purpose. When Microsoft started releasing games in UWP containers back in the solar day, the organisation buckled. It hadn't been designed to deliver packages that ran in the tens of gigabytes, and a lot of those legacy problems persist even today.
Given that the Xbox app uses the Windows 8-based packet delivery system, installing games tin can be a nightmare for reasons that are often indiscernible. 1 frequent issue I and others often run into is where the Microsoft Store just gets stuck, and refuses to download or update annihilation. Often this tin be fixed by resetting the Microsoft Shop cache, simply information technology's 2022, I shouldn't have to do this when all I want to practice is access a game — in an entirely separate app.
The Microsoft Store is pivoting away from its container format with Windows 11, but it remains to exist seen the extent to which that will bear upon games.
The container arrangement was developed with security in mind, just it doesn't seem to be able to discriminate betwixt what are hacks and what are mods. The Xbox app lets yous "unlock" a game's files with a very patronizing warning if you want to mod games, merely updates to the game or even Windows 10 itself can wipe whatsoever modifications made to game files, since Windows containers persistently verify the contents of an app package for "canonical" files. Modding is a huge part of the PC infinite, not just for fun, but also to fix bugs. Those same mods could as well solve some other annoying issue with Xbox Game Pass ...
Xbox Game Pass PC game versions are often worse
Source: Windows Fundamental | Neon Giant
Perhaps the most annoying thing of all with Xbox Game Pass is the fact you're oft getting a sub-par experience when compared to Steam or Win32 versions on other storefronts. For whatever reason, whether it'southward bug with the container system, or issues with the Microsoft Shop certification process in general, games on Xbox Game Laissez passer frequently just fail to live up to the same quality standards equally competing versions.
The Ascent for example supports NVIDIA DLSS on Steam, but not on the Microsoft Store. This is probably something to do with the game being ported from the Xbox version to Xbox Game Pass for PC, but that doesn't excuse the fact players on Xbox Game Pass for PC are ultimately getting a worse experience. I've also found bugs in various other games. Pillars of Eternity, for example, is completely broken on Xbox Game Pass for PC, with floating objects moving betwixt screens. I've actually worked direct with Obsidian to get this fixed and troubleshot in the by, only the problems persists even to this day. The same issues does non exist on the Xbox or Steam versions of the game, which is intensely frustrating.
Microsoft is allowing developers to employ their own content delivery networks for the Windows xi store revamp, thankfully, and will ditch the container requirement for games and apps being listed on the store. But will those existing developers become in and update their games to the Win32 versions? I somehow doubt information technology. Fifty-fifty if they did, it would probably be at the loss of Xbox achievements in the process.
A long route alee
Source: Windows Primal
Xbox Game Pass for PC just isn't good enough right at present. From a broken app, to a cleaved content delivery system, to a broken modding platform, and broken game versions, every angle of Xbox Game Laissez passer for PC just screams "just use Steam instead." The fact games like Sea of Thieves, Flight Simulator, and other Microsoft titles continue to trend on Steam despite existence far more affordable with Xbox Game Pass could evidence this — people would rather pay for a more than reliable, consistent experience.
Microsoft's ignorance of the PC gaming community feels credible with the Xbox app on PC.
Microsoft's ignorance of the PC gaming community feels credible with the Xbox app on PC. The lack of features, customizability, and configurability flies in the face of everything that PC gaming is nearly. In a earth where Steam is driving incredible value with its massive sales, and gamers are faced with more than competition for their gratuitous fourth dimension than ever, offering a large library of games is nowhere near enough for Microsoft to penetrate this market. It's the experience that volition bulldoze adoption in Xbox Game Pass for PC, and right now, that experience just apparently sucks.
Windows 11 offers a glimmer of hope that the situation will improve in the time to come, but in that location'south no official roadmap on what (if anything) Microsoft plans to practice to improve the Xbox Game Laissez passer for PC service correct now. Other gaming services just seem and then much more serious nearly competing for my involvement. I tin jump into the Steam beta and go huge patch notes and information on what their plans are for future iterations of the app. Discord pops up with update information and sometimes even a video showcasing new features. It feels like the Xbox app'due south development has ground to a halt, without any meaningful new features in what feels like months at this point.
I'm optimistic that things will improve, and I have no incertitude that the teams are hard at work synchronizing their vision for the Xbox app up with the large Windows eleven endeavour. Some transparency would be dainty though, especially for those who are actively paying into the service.
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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-game-pass-pc-has-such-long-way-go
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