Xbox Game Pass will finally get pre-loading and a new mobile application

Although the Xbox Game Pass is used to house a larger library of games already available on the market, Microsoft has been increasing its effort to see games hit the service on day one. This carried with it the major caveat of waiting for increasingly large games to download, prompting the firm to introduce the much requested pre-loading feature.

Xbox's Corporate Vice President Mike Ybarra revealed the welcome news over on Twitter, stating that the pre-loading feature would arrive alongside Crackdown 3. The frequently delayed video game was pegged for a February 15^th release during the publisher’s XO18 event last week, and will launch as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

One of the biggest asks we’ve had for @XboxGamePass was to allow pre-load (pre-install) so you can download and be ready the second launch happens. It’s available now – and starts with Crackdown 3 on Xbox and Windows. 💪👍👌👊

— 🎄Mike Ybarra☃️ (@XboxQwik) November 13, 2018

This means that Game Pass owners will be able to access Crackdown 3 from day one on PC systems, while titles outside of the Play Anywhere library will be arriving via Game Pass on the platform sometime after. Details of this expansion still remain few and far between.

Microsoft has been making good on its promise to introduce day one titles to the Game Pass, with Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Forza Horizon 4 all arriving alongside their retail launch. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is set to continue this trend in 2019, alongside Crackdown 3.

Meanwhile, a variety of backlogged games will be arriving over the Holiday period, including the first Ori and the Blind Forest, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Game Pass owners will also gain access to Aftercharge, Agents of Mayhem, Mutant Year Zero, MXGP3, Pathologic 2, Secret Neighbor, Supermarket Shriek, The Good Life, Thomas Was Alone and Void Bastards. Thief of Thieves has already been made available.

One of the best updates for both existing and new subscribers is Microsoft’s new Xbox Game Pass app for iOS and Android, offering the ability to browse the available library and download titles to their consoles via mobile. This does require consoles to be set to “Instant On” and therefore isn’t likely to be a PC feature when the service debuts in full.

Those that haven’t tried the Xbox Game Pass can grab a full month for just $1 until the offer expires on January 3^rd.

KitGuru Says: I’m certainly interested in Xbox Game Pass when it finally arrives on PC in full, especially as the library keeps on growing. Are you happy about Microsoft’s newly introduced games and features?

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