Earlier today, Todd Howard surprised gamers by making an appearance at Microsoft’s E3 presentation. He took the opportunity to debut a trailer for Fallout 76, hours before Bethesda’s own presentation. He also confirmed that both Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls Online would be coming to Xbox Game Pass. In fact, the games are available right now.
Best places to visit this month on #XboxGamePass:
– Boston's nuclear wasteland
– Tamriel's dangerous ruins
– New York's post-apocalyptic streets
See for yourself at https://t.co/LSe866R8I5. pic.twitter.com/gou3Q5n3jM— Xbox (@Xbox) June 10, 2018
As of today, both Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited have been added to Xbox Game Pass, along with Tom Clancy’s The Division. It was also announced that Forza Horizon 4, Ashen, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Afterparty, and Crackdown 3 would be added to Game Pass on their respective days of release.
Xbox Game Pass
If you’re unfamiliar, Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service which allows gamers to download and play games as much as they want from an online catalog. That catalog includes backwards compatible Xbox 360 games as well as more recent Xbox One releases. The service has proven to be very popular among Xbox owners. As a result, it seems Microsoft is now pushing to get more new games added immediately to its catalog. It is believed that Game Pass played a major role in the success of Sea of Thieves, which was one of the first Xbox exclusives offered from day one on the service.
Microsoft also announced a new program called FastStart, which will soon be implemented to Xbox Game Pass. This system will apparently allow gamers to access games via Game Pass “twice as fast”. This new system prioritises only those parts of a game that you need to start playing and downloads those first. That way, you can start playing the game more quickly while the rest continues to download. Xbox Game Pass executive Ashley Speicher made the reveal at the Microsoft E3 presentation; FastStart will be added to Xbox Game Pass in the Xbox June Update.