Microsoft announces Xbox subscription service for PC gaming

Microsoft Corp. will begin selling a subscription service for personal computer video games, two years after unveiling a similar offering for the Xbox console.

Xbox Game Pass for PC offers access to more than 100 titles on Windows 10 for a monthly fee, rather than requiring individual purchases. They include games from studios including Bethesda, which makes the “Elder Scrolls” series, and Sega, as well as studios that Microsoft has acquired. As with Game Pass for the Xbox, Microsoft will put some games on the service the same day they are released.

The company didn’t announce pricing or availability for the service but said it will have more to share at the E3 games industry conference next month in Los Angeles.

Microsoft is trying to attract more gamers and sell content that isn’t tied to console users only. Apart from increasing its appeal to PC players, the company is working on a game-streaming service called xCloud. It will soon face increased competition in the space as companies from Google to Apple work on their own streaming and subscription services for video games.

The company is also broadening the channels through which it sells its own games. Microsoft has already said it will sell its core franchise “Halo” on Valve Corp.’s Steam store for the first time. Today the company announced it will bring more than 20 other Xbox Game Studios titles to Steam.

Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt. Ltd.