Xbox Game Pass: Microsoft Wants To Cut Down On Long Download Times

Microsoft is pleased with the success of Xbox Game Pass but is looking to improve the service going into the next console generation. As Microsoft transitions from Xbox One to Xbox Series X--the official name for Project Scarlett--it wants to make it easier for subscribers to try new games without having to wait through long download times.

"We now have a generation where our customers have access to hundreds and hundreds of games in their portfolio and we've never really had that," Xbox head Phil Spencer told GameSpot in an exclusive interview. "[Previously] my portfolio of games is usually down to what discs do I happen to own right now and what games have I purchased digitally. But if you're a Game Pass subscriber, you have access to hundreds of games and your friends list has access to that same shared library of games."

Spencer continued: "And we think that community opportunity--as we bring the community of our players together with a really creative community of developers [who are] building some immersive games and creative games that land on Game Pass--there's some things that we wanted to work on to make it easy to try your next game." Spencer admits there's too much waiting when it comes to trying new games. After seeing a screenshot of a cool-looking game in the Xbox Live store, it's not like you can then start playing right then and there.

"Download times are an issue, time to get into the game, load times, these things," Spencer said. "And when you have such a broad portfolio of games that you have on Game Pass and the community of people who are in Game Pass, where somebody might literally drop you a line on Xbox Live saying, 'Hey, you should go try Minit it's a really cool game,' we want you to be able to browse games the way you browse other forms of media."

In this regard, with Xbox Series X, Microsoft is focusing on cutting down on the overall load times of the platform--even to the point where you'll be able to keep multiple games suspended at once and load back into whatever you want to play next.