Xbox and Discord have officially announced the new Starter Edition of their Xbox Game Pass that will be available to Discord Nitro Subscribers at no extra cost to them. The reveal, made today, comes a month after Xbox’s new head, Asha Sharma, confirmed that the two companies were working together on a new offering for fans. Shortly after this, the first mentions of an Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition started showing up on the internet.
Both companies are referring to this service as a “Starter Edition,” differentiating it from the versions of the service that were available prior (like Ultimate), yet seem to be going out of their way not to make the term official. In essence, this version of the service is a slimmed-down offering, with 50+ classic games on offer, though more titles will be added over time. Titles include Grounded, Stardew Valley, Hades, DayZ, and Cities: Skylines, as well as first-party titles like Dishonored 2, Fallout 4, Gears of War 5, and Doom Eternal. There is some overlap with the Xbox Game Pass Essential tier, with a slightly slimmed-down offering.
There are other new features as well, such as the ability to jump directly into Game Pass titles your friends might be playing or streaming directly through the app. Game Pass subscribers will also begin receiving 250 Discord Orbs and a 1.2x multiplier when completing quests. Discord spokesperson Lu Zhang wrote in a blog post today:
Most of us have spent money on something, played it for a couple weeks, then watched it sit in our library. Game Pass removes that friction.
The starter edition of Game Pass also comes with 10 hours of cloud gaming, so you can stream games right away on more devices. Whether you’re into survival, strategy, co-op, or just want to farm in peace, there’s something in there for you.
This partnership comes amid a multitude of changes that have been made to the streaming service since Asha Sharma took over. This includes a price drop to game pace, dropping it to $22.99 from the previous $29.99 at the trade-off of Call of Duty coming to the service on day one.
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