Xbox Game Pass takes the current era of digital renter-ship to its logical extreme. When you "buy" a game these days, what you're often doing is purchasing a license to rent a copy in perpetuity. In other words, the difference between buying and borrowing is smaller than ever. This spawns a question: Do you bother purchasing titles that are on Game Pass, either after or during their time on Microsoft's service, or do you simply enjoy your temporary access while it lasts?
There are incentives to "buying" a game outright even if it's on Game Pass. For example, the Game Pass versions typically don't include all the DLC, so you have to pay for those separately even if you're getting the base game from your subscription. At which point, some people opt to just buy the complete edition outright. And then there are weird cases like CrossfireX, wherein you get a piece of the game via Game Pass as a sort of super-enhanced demo but have to buy the title if you want more. The point is, even with Microsoft's service's impressive value proposition, there are still reasons to pay for games the old-school way.
According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Game Pass subscribers are big spenders. "Game Pass is growing rapidly and it's transforming how people discover, connect and play games," he said during the company's FY21 Q4 earnings call. "Subscribers play approximately 40% more games and spend 50% more than non-members."
Based on that quote, we can surmise that Game Pass users are, indeed, forking over the cash. The question is: Are you? Or do you enjoy the best Xbox Game Pass games while they're on the service for no additional fee beyond your base subscription cost, then move on?
