Forza Horizons 5 Reminds Me How Good Game Pass Is

The launch of Forza Horizon 5 has once again solidified with me how it is without a doubt the best online subscription service for video games. Not only is Microsoft providing us with a ton of new games month-to-month, but are still releasing ALL first party titles on the service. On day one. Outstanding.

As someone who has begun to play their Xbox more and more has a hobby as opposed to for work purposes – the great Kevin Austin, Mat Growcott, and Will Pennell are all over our Xbox content – I realize how amazing a value Game Pass really is. The majority of my time (unsurprisingly) is spent on the Nintendo Switch, between doing reviews and articles for GamesReviews, and content on my YouTube channel.

So, while I WANT to fully play through Forza Horizon 5, I’m unlikely to do so. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to play it. But am I willing to drop 79.99 CAD on a first party Xbox title at retail, if I know going in I might not sink enough hours into the experience to justify the price? Probably not. Am I willing to shell out for Games Pass each month? Most definitely.

One can only hope that PlayStation (Nintendo never will) takes a page form the Xbox playbook and begins doing this as well. Could you imagine playing the next Uncharted game on your PlayStation, on day one, without dropping 79.99 at retail or on the PlayStation Store? It would be epic, insane even. And while there are a few PlayStation games I really want to play, they are all likely going to be on-sale purchases for me, as I’m too busy to get the value out of 79.99.

Thing is, I wrote a similar article to this one when Flight Simulator came out, how I was happy I didn’t drop retail price on that game, a game that I spent more time downloading than I did playing. It just wasn’t fun for me, but I still got to experience it and find that out for myself.

And yes, when Halo launches, I can probably write this article again. Xbox has taken a fair number of shots to the stomach during the lifetime of the Xbox One, but it’s riding high now with what I would call consumer friendly practices.