While the branding of Xbox Game Pass has much to do with its relationship between compatible platforms, Microsoft went ahead and changed the name of Xbox Game Pass to PC Game Pass. However, the consoles still remain the core of Microsoft’s gaming business, which makes the Game Pass attached with the consoles. In fact, PC Game Pass offers a pretty distinctive library from its console sibling, including PC-only games.
It’s also worth mentioning that the service as a whole hasn’t changed, and the new PC Game Pass logo still includes the Xbox X badge, so Microsoft isn’t going to ditch the Xbox branding anytime soon. In general, the rebranding is superficial as the service still retains the Xbox logo. The rebranded service does not change its library, subscription model, or cloud gaming integration, but simply simplifies branding for the sake of its PC fan base, as Microsoft explained in detail on Twitter.
Microsoft announced the news via video at the 2021 Game Awards (held on December 9th), saying that it hopes to distinguish Game Pass from console brands and raise awareness that Xbox also has PC gaming services. Microsoft has confirmed the rebranding of its PC version of Xbox Game Pass subscription in several tweets.
We heard a rumor that we’re changing our logo and name. the rumor is true
— PC Game Pass (@XboxGamePassPC) December 10, 2021
In addition to the rebranding of the famous Xbox Game Pass service, a partnership with Singtel was also announced on the official Microsoft blog. Microsoft also used the moment of its announcement at The Games Awards to list the games that will appear on the first day and the rebrand. The catalog contains a selection of games for the Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One, as well as some Xbox 360. Microsoft used to include Xbox in the name of all of its services. However, by removing the links to Xbox, it may be clearer for PC gamers that this service is for PC gaming and not console games. According to a report by Gadgets 360, Microsoft has stated that the rebranding will only be changing the name of the subscription service. PC Game Pass also will receive a new logo with only the Xbox symbol.
Microsoft is very concerned that you might not understand the last part of this concept and is making some changes to maximize brand awareness. On the other hand, the major tech developer used this announcement to reveal the upcoming game platform releases on the first day. You pay Microsoft a monthly subscription and in return, you get access to a collection of games that you can download and play at no additional cost. It comes as another surprise in this regard, according to 9to5Google, that Google is offering a free 3-month PC Game Pass membership for YouTube Premium subscribers.
