How to use Xbox PC Game Pass on Windows PC

Microsoft Xbox Game Pass It is a subscription service that provides on-demand access to dozens of games. It’s a great value if you like to play and discover new games, and Now that it’s on PC Rather than just being a console experience, your subscription can follow you from your Xbox console to your Windows desktop.

However, the expansion of Windows PCs has not been smooth sailing. While the Xbox allows you to easily access your Game Pass directly from the main dashboard, finding Game Pass games on a PC is a whole other story.

There are two ways to find Game Pass games on PC. The first and easiest requires you to download a free app, although I think it’s worth it. The second method does not require any additional installations, but finding compatible Game Pass games is more complicated.

First, get PC Game Pass

If you are already subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate, then congratulations, you already have access to PC Game Pass, and you can skip this step. For everyone else, start here.

You can buy a subscription to either of them PC Game Pass for $9.99 per month or for Game Pass Ultimate for $14.99 per month. The latter is an all-in-one bundle subscription from Microsoft that also includes Xbox Live Gold for online multiplayer play on consoles and Game Pass for Xbox One, as well as PC Game Pass. If you’re a new subscriber, it’s worth noting that you can get your first month of PC Game Pass for just $1.

Access Game Pass games on PC via the Xbox app

This is the easiest and most user-friendly way to find Game Pass games that will be played on a PC.

• First, download the new Xbox app from the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 or 11. Head to the Microsoft Store and search for the Xbox app, or You can find it at this link.

• Sign in with your Microsoft account. You will have a much more luxurious user interface than what the Microsoft Store offers. Even better, it shows Game Pass games on the first screen you see, and unlike the default Store view, whatever the Xbox app shows can be played on PC.

Once you install the games you want to play, you can play them via the Xbox app or through a shortcut created during installation.

Access Game Pass games on PC via the Microsoft Store

All PC games currently playable on Game Pass can be found in the Microsoft Store, which is on every Windows PC by default – no additional installation required.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the slightly more confusing way to find Game Pass games that work on PC. I recommend downloading the Xbox app mentioned above, but this option works if you’re in a hurry and don’t want to deal with downloading.

• Open the Microsoft Store.

• On the main Store page, click the menu button at the bottom left of the window, then select “Library” to see all the apps you own.
• You can then use the filter at the top to view only the games, but this view does not distinguish between games purchased or titles you downloaded via GamePass.
• This offer also includes games that can be played exclusively on the Xbox console. And there’s no way to filter the view to make Xbox One games disappear.

Did I mention that the Xbox app for Windows is much better?

Update March 8, 2022 2:20 PM ET: This article was originally published on August 12, 2019; Information about Game Pass and some screenshots have been updated.