Xbox Game Pass is coming to Windows 10, but many questions remain

In one of the less-detailed announcements of the pre-E3 season, Microsoft this morning officially confirmed it is bringing its "all-you-can-play" Game Pass subscription service to the PC. The new expansion of the Xbox Game Pass (which launched just over two years ago) "will give players unlimited access to a curated library of over 100 high-quality PC games on Windows 10, from well-known PC game developers and publishers such as Bethesda, Deep Silver, Devolver Digital, Paradox Interactive, SEGA and more," according to an announcement from Microsoft.

Games from Microsoft's own studios, including recent acquisitions Obsidian and inXile, will be available on Xbox Game Pass for PC on the day they're released, just as they are on Xbox One. Game Pass members will also receive discounts of up to 20% on Windows Store games and up to 10% off of DLC and add-on purchases.

Aside from that, though, Microsoft's announcement leaves a lot of major holes. While the "Xbox Game Pass for PC" shares a name with the company's "original" gaming subscription plan, it's not clear if PC subscriptions will be considered separate, or available as a bundle with the console plan, or included in Microsoft's upcoming "Game Pass Ultimate," or some combination of all of the above. Microsoft also didn't discuss any pricing details, launch timing for the service, any specific included games, or whether or not Game Pass on PC downloads would be limited to Microsoft's own Windows Store. Microsoft has promised to reveal more at its June 9 E3 press conference.

Xbox Game Pass' expansion to PC isn't much of a surprise, coming as it does months after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said off-handedly during an earnings call that "obviously, bringing Game Pass to even the PC is going to be a big element of [increasing the strength of the Xbox community]" (and more recent rumors solidified those expectations).

Microsoft also confirmed that additional Xbox Game Studios titles would be coming to Steam in the future, joining the 20 studio titles already on Valve's platform. That includes Gears 5 and the "definitive edition" versions of the Age of Empires series. The commitment follows on the March announcement that Halo: The Master Chief Collection would be coming to Steam and the Windows Store.

Microsoft also solidified its continued commitment to Win32, the pre-UWP API that dates back to the Windows 95 days. Native Win32 games will be fully supported on the Windows Store in the future, Microsoft said, out of a recognition that "Win32 is the app format that game developers love to use and gamers love to play."