Xbox Game Pass gets sweeter with day one Rainbow 6 release

This story about a lack of confidence, boiled down, in 1:49 minutes.

What's the fuss?

Xbox's game streaming service managed to snag a big upcoming game made from a third-party studio. Such a rare catch may signify a lack of confidence from the latter.

The situation

Xbox Game Pass is undoubtedly the market leader when it comes to game streaming services.

• Akin to a service like Netflix, game streaming services allow gamers to play modern games through the Internet rather than needing to buy the game itself or owning gaming hardware.
• For a very reasonable monthly price, Xbox Game Pass subscribers have access to a library of over 300 games both from first party and third party studios.

The next game in the first person shooter franchise Rainbow 6 will be available for free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers when it releases on Jan. 20th - a welcome surprise.

• Rainbow 6: Extraction, developed by French-native Ubisoft, is a PvE (Player vs. Environment) shooter game focused on culling a zombie-like plague.
• In addition, Ubisoft's own game subscription service will eventually come to Xbox - but at a price.

Boiling it down

It's not every day that AAA games created outside of Xbox's own game studios get put on the subscription service on their first day of release.

• Game developers behind these titles ultimately receive less money by doing so compared to selling units à la carte.
• Thus, Game Pass is a fantastic vehicle for smaller titles who don't have as much clout in order to get their game out there.

The thing is, the Rainbow 6 franchise certainly has that clout being internationally well known - so why does it need Game Pass?

• One of the possible answers is the Ubisoft doesn't have confidence that the game will sell well normally.
• Previous shooter games Ubisoft have released sold poorly, and coupled with little fanfare for this latest outing the developer is likely hedging their bets. 

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