Here's When Xbox Game Pass Will Launch

Xbox Game Pass is primed to bring more than 100 games to Microsoft fans through a new subscription service and, thanks to a recent announcement, we now know exactly when folks will be able to join in on the fun.

If you're an Xbox Live Gold member, you can check out Xbox Game Pass starting today, May 24. You read that right, the service is available early to Gold subscribers for a limited time. Better yet, you can actually take the service for a test drive, with access to a free trial for 14 days.

If you're not a Gold member, because those people apparently still exist somewhere in this world, you can jump onto the Game Pass bandwagon starting Thursday, June 1. Just like with the Gold crowd, you'll also be able to enjoy a 14-day free trial of the service, so we figure it's worth it to, bare minimum, take Xbox One's latest offering for a test drive.

Over on the Xbox blog, a post recently went live letting folks know what they will be able to do with the Game Pass service.

In short, you'll gain access to more than 100 games which will apparently refresh on a pretty regular basis. These include Xbox One games, as well as Xbox 360 titles that are backwards compatible on the Xbox One.

The cost of Game Pass is $9.99 per month. That price grants you unlimited access to download and play any game available on the service. Obviously, that means you'll probably need to free up some hard drive space from time to time, but that's a small price to pay when you've got access to such a large collection of games. To be clear, when your subscription ends, so does your access to those games; so don't go in expecting to get a month's subscription, download every game possible and then keep playing them without keeping up the monthly subscription.

This program sets itself apart from Sony's PlayStation Now service in that you're downloading the games rather than streaming them. If you don't have the best internet connection, that's probably a check in the "win" column. But, again, remember to keep track of your hard drive space.

So, what types of games can you expect to play? Well, for starters, Halo 5: Guardians is in the mix, alongside games like Payday 2, Mega Man Legacy Collection, the BioShock games, Perfect Dark Zero, Borderlands and the first three Gears of War games. Also up for grabs will be Terraria, Resident Evil 0, Mad Max and XCOM: Enemy Within. Again, that's only a sampling of what will be available, as the catalog currently consists of about 100 games.

In other words, if you want to wait until your summer break is in full swing and you'll have some extra free time, you could time your 14-day free trial in order to get lots of extra mileage out of your introductory period. Heck, in two weeks, you might be able to download and completely finish the entire Gears series.

So, what do you think, readers? Does that sound like a good way to spend 10 bucks a month? Let us know in the comments below.