Valve Wants Xbox Game Pass on Steam, but Will Microsoft Play Ball?

2022-05-27 19:26:01 By : Ms. Nancy Li

The Xbox Game Pass is great value for money, and Valve is more than willing to give it a comfy home on its Steam store platform.

The Xbox Game Pass is an amazing deal whether you're a console or a PC gamer, but it's still eerily absent from the biggest PC store in the world, Steam. Fortunately, the owners of Steam, Valve, recently stated that it's more than happy to welcome Microsoft's "Netflix of gaming" onto its storefront.

The news dropped in a piece on PC Gamer about the possibility of a "Steam Pass," a theoretical monthly fee that gave people access to a wide range of Steam games. Valve's boss, Gabe Newell, doesn't feel as if he'd introduce such a pass in the future, but he's more than happy to allow existing plans onto Steam:

"I don't think it's something that we think we need to do ourselves, building a subscription service at this time. But for their customers it's clearly a popular option, and we'd be more than happy to work with them to get that on Steam."

It's by no means a confirmation that something is in the works, but at the very least, it's an encouraging sign that Newell is willing to make the Xbox Game Pass on Steam a reality.

When gamers think of Steam, they usually picture a storefront instead of a subscription service. However, Steam is no stranger to allowing third parties to host their game passes on the platform, and even implements its own system to handle the process.

For instance, you can subscribe to the EA Play service through Steam, which then gives you permission to download and play the included games on Valve's platform. So, the idea of a subscription service on Steam is by no means a novel one; it's already a reality.

But what about Microsoft's willingness to bring the Xbox Game Pass to Steam? As it turns out, the company may not have a problem with that at all. After all, Microsoft has expressed interest in bringing the Xbox Game Pass to the Switch, stating that the only thing stopping it from doing so was Nintendo's willingness.

As such, with Valve leaving the door open for Microsoft, it may not be long until the Xbox Game Pass makes its grand debut on Steam.

Given how much value for money the Xbox Game Pass is, it's a small wonder that it hasn't already arrived on Steam. However, with the head of Valve giving Microsoft the green light, it may just be the nudge Microsoft needed to get its popular subscription service on the biggest PC gaming storefront in history.

A Computer Science BSc graduate with a deep passion for all things security. After working for an indie game studio, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech.

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