Microsoft’s PC Game Pass is coming to the Philippines and four other Southeast Asian countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

To kick things off, Microsoft is offering a preview of the games subscription service starting Tuesday, March 29. Through the service, gamers can pay a monthly rate to play a selection of games.

The PC Game Pass preview will offer over “100 high-quality games including new Xbox Game Studios releases on day one, iconic Bethesda games, and an EA Play membership.”

Titles on PC Game Pass include Minecraft, Forza Horizon 5, Age of Empires IV, Sea of Thieves and Microsoft Flight Simulator, among others. The pass also includes new Xbox Game Studios titles on day one like Halo Infinite, and games from Microsoft-owned Bethesda Softworks series such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. EA Play is also included with the service, which features games from franchises such as FIFA, Battlefield, The Sims and Mass Effect.

The preview can be accessed via the Xbox Insider Hub app. To find the app, search for the Microsoft Store app on a Windows PC, and search for Xbox Insider. Here’s a step-by-step:

1. Download the Xbox Insider app from the Microsoft Store on Windows.
2. After signing into the app with your Microsoft account, navigate to the Previews tab and join the PC Game Pass Southeast Asia Market Expansion preview.
3. Wait for the registration to complete.
4. Launch the Xbox app which can be found in the Microsoft Store on Windows if it’s not already installed.
5. Sign into the Xbox app with the same Microsoft account that you used to join the PC Game Pass Southeast Asia Market Expansion preview and then subscribe to PC Game Pass from within the Xbox app, and you’re ready to download and play games.

The trial fee is P5 for the duration of the preview, which will also serve as a way for Microsoft to “setup and test the local payment systems.”

“As this is the first step in bringing access to PC Game Pass in the region, participants can test and share their feedback so we can make improvements across the service. We look forward to sharing more about how to join PC Game Pass when the service launches in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam later this year,” Microsoft said in its press statement.

PC Game Pass was launched in 2019 in the US and other markets, and has become one of the more popular games subscription services for its attractive selection of games at an appealing monthly rate.

There’s also a separate Xbox Game Pass for Xbox console gamers, and the Microsoft announcement for the Southeast Asia preview is specifically for the PC version of its Game Pass. The key difference between the two is that there are certain games only available on the console pass, and vice versa. In the US, subscription for the PC Game Pass starts at $10.

“At Xbox, our mission is simple, to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. Bringing PC Game Pass to new countries in Southeast Asia is an important part of how we will achieve this as we strive to reach billions of players,” said Jeremy Hinton, Xbox Asia business lead. – Rappler.com

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