Genshin Impact on Xbox seemingly requires a Game Pass subscription

While PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch all require a subscription in order to play games online, free-to-play titles are typically exempt from this. It therefore comes as a bit of a surprise that the upcoming Xbox release of Genshin Impact appears to necessitate an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

After years of waiting, the highly popular free-to-play open world of Genshin Impact is set to arrive on Xbox platforms in November. Ahead of this, the game has now been officially listed on the Xbox Store – revealing an odd requirement: “Online multiplayer on console requires Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Xbox Game Pass Core (sold separately).”

As mentioned, free-to-play games typically do not need a subscription in order to play online; such is the case with Genshin Impact on PlayStation.

That said, prior to the Game Pass revamp, Xbox Live Gold was needed in order to play even F2P titles – and so hopefully this is merely an error as a result of the console manufacturer’s previous practices. We will have to wait and see.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of this requirement? Is it an error, or is Microsoft trying to boost its Game Pass numbers? Let us know your thoughts down below.

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