Speaking to The Game Business, design director Jens Andersson said the aim was to make The Great Circle "the most accessible MachineGames game so far," and it being on Game Pass meant that anyone with a membership could give it a shot. The data coming back to MachineGames showed that Game Pass players would "jump in for five minutes and they drop out."
After about 45 minutes with the ROG Xbox Ally X, Microsoft's beefy handheld collaboration with Asus, I can safely say that the two tech giants have succeeded in bringing another excellent option to this growing market. But while the device itself is an enjoyable way to access your Xbox library and beyond, the real measure of its value will be how it stacks up against the numerous options already available.
The company is experimenting with giving Game Pass Core ($10 a month) and Game Pass Standard ($15 a month) members limited access to certain games via the cloud and PC. Xbox Insiders can begin testing this initiative today, with a version of it seemingly planned to roll out to everyone in the not too distant future. The new benefit essentially adds cloud gaming support to all games in the Core (around 50 games) and Standard (over 400 games) libraries.