Microsoft announced on Tuesday, Feb. 28, that a preview of its PC Game Pass service is now available in 40 new countries. At a discounted test price during the first month, the preview will provide users access to all the hundreds of titles included in Microsoft's PC Game Pass membership.
As reported first by The Verge, the service is now available in 40 nations such as Ukraine, Libya, Qatar, Iceland, Croatia, and other parts of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
The Xbox Insider Hub app will unlock a preview version of the PC Game Pass membership in these 40 markets before the program is fully launched.
Here is the full list of the 40 new countries included in the preview program:
- Albania
- Algeria
- Bahrain
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Estonia
- Georgia
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Iceland
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Nicaragua
- North Macedonia
- Oman
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Qatar
- Romania
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Tunisia
- Ukraine
- Uruguay
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When will it be available?
The PC Game Pass Preview program will be available to players in these new markets starting on February 28. It will grant them immediate access to a library of hundreds of high-quality PC games on Windows, including brand-new Xbox Game Studios releases on day one, classic Bethesda games, an EA Play membership, and member-only benefits in Riot Games.
Every day, new games are added to the PC Game Pass catalog, and soon, even more top-notch Xbox and Bethesda titles will be available. On April 18, the action-strategy game Minecraft Legends will be released. The first-person shooter Redfall from Arkane Austin will be made available on May 2.
This massive expansion means 86 nations will now have access to Game Pass, as Microsoft aims to leverage new markets to build its subscription service.
Microsoft reports that PC Game Pass memberships have increased by 159 percent year-over-year despite Xbox executive Phil Spencer's warning that growth on the console portion of Xbox Game Pass was slowing down in 2022.
"In the coming months, PC Game Pass will launch in these countries for all players to experience. This means that Game Pass community members from 86 countries around the world can play hundreds of games together with their friends and family," Jerret West, CVP of gaming marketing at Xbox, said in a news release.
"We look forward to welcoming more players from around the world to the Game Pass community."
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