Six months have passed since the PS5 and Xbox Series X were released, but times have changed since November. After my initial PS5 review, I continued to play the PS5 for a month; I was so excited that I decided to give the PS5 a try, and I was so excited that I decided to give it a try. But I wondered when the pendulum would swing to the other side and I would be immersed in Microsoft's comprehensive ecosystem.

Turns out, the answer was "a month from now," and since late December I've been glued to the Xbox Series X, while the PS5 has been gathering dust, waiting for the next big exclusive title. For the record, I like both systems. But for now, it's much easier to find games to play on the Xbox Series X: Xbox Game Pass.

I've written about Xbox Game Pass in the past, and Microsoft's subscription service seemed to get more affordable as the months went by. Since last year, the company has added hundreds of titles, cloud gaming via Android, and more recently, first-day releases from third-party developers. Xbox Game Pass currently offers the former Switch exclusive Octopath Traveler and will soon be offering the former PlayStation exclusive "MLB The Show 21."

Xbox Game Pass is not cheap ($10/month for the console package, $15/month for the console + PC package), but if you play more than one game per month, it pays for itself quite well.

Of course, Xbox Game Pass, like any service, has its pros and cons. It has a huge library, but it is also expensive. It has Microsoft's latest and greatest titles, but third-party games appear and disappear frequently; it offers games across Xbox, PC, and Android devices, but save synchronization is extremely inconsistent from game to game; and the service is not very user-friendly. Still, one thing is certain. Since I first activated my membership, I have had absolutely no trouble finding new games to play.

Since I don't want this article to become a story in the ongoing (and ultimately pointless) console wars, I'll reiterate that I really like the PS5 and am excited about games like "Returnal," "Ratchet & Clank" and "God War: I am excited about games like "Returnal", "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart", and "God of War 2: Ragnarok". However, the Xbox Game Pass offers a completely frictionless selection of new games, whereas the PS5 uses an older, less efficient model.

Consider my situation:

When the PS5 first launched, I was in the middle of a review of "Assassin's Creed Valhalla"; I migrated my save data from the PS4 and finished the rest of the game; I had a few more games to play before I was done with the PS5; and I had a few more games to play before I was done with the PS5. I then played the PlayStation exclusive "Spider-Man: Miles Morales" and the PS5 exclusive "Demon's Souls" (which is still the best reason to buy a PS5).

With the PS5, I had three options: scroll through the PlayStation Store (or visit a physical store), find a game I liked, and spend $20 to $60 to buy it. If you didn't like it, too bad.

The second option was to download the "free" games that came with a PlayStation Plus subscription. (PS Plus costs money, so it is not actually free. However, PS Plus subscribers get access to at least two downloadable games each month in addition to the usual benefits.) December saw the release of Worms Rumble, Just Cause 4, and Rocket Arena, none of which piqued my interest.

The last option was to choose a game from Sony's excellent PlayStation Plus collection. This list of PS4 classics allows PlayStation Plus subscribers to download and play great titles, from Ratchet & Clank (2016) to Final Fantasy XV. However, I had already played most of these titles on PS4.

Then I realized I had neglected my Xbox Series X and decided to see what was available. I had been toying with Xbox Game Pass ever since Microsoft hyped it up at E3 2018. But before I knew it, the service had grown from a few dozen games to several hundred.

When I reviewed the Xbox Series S, I was particularly fascinated by a game called "Yakuza": I was curious to see what this series was all about; I could have spent $20 to buy "Yakuza 0" from the PSN store or download it from Xbox Game Pass. Yakuza 0" hooked me immediately, and I kept downloading the next game, and the next, and the next.

Having the entire "Yakuza" series at my disposal was a good start, but I couldn't live on open-world fighting games alone, so I reached for the "Gears of War" series and "Star Wars: Jedi": more "Gears of War" series, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order" and, more recently, "Octopath Traveler. The occasional domestic partner who dabbles in gaming had a lot of fun with "Night in the Woods," "Slime Rancher," and "Viva Pinata.

The Xbox Game Pass has two major advantages over purchasing games a la carte. The most obvious is the pricing. Had I purchased each of the above games separately, they would have cost me $200 to $300. In contrast, a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $180. One can debate the merits of owning these games versus renting them indefinitely. However, if you are more likely to play a variety of games one at a time rather than a handful of games multiple times, then the Xbox Game Pass is more cost-effective.

But the bigger attraction is that there is absolutely no friction between wanting to play a game and actually playing it. If you have to pay up front, even for a $10 or $20 game, every time you play a new game, you have to do a small cost-benefit analysis: do I want a $60 brand-new game, or not? What if I hold out and buy a $20 old game? Should I play something from my backlog? What is the most fun right now?

Xbox Game Pass essentially eliminates that barrier entirely. If I want to play something, I download it and play it. I've had games that I downloaded and immediately quit, and I've had games that I downloaded and played for dozens of hours. The risk is a few hours at most, and if I need more time to finish a game on a monthly basis, it might cost me another $15. With a few strokes of the gamepad, I could go from "mildly curious" to "fully immersed" in a game that I would never have thought to try before.

The Xbox Game Pass has made choosing a new game so seamless that, in 2021, with the exception of work assignments, I haven't played many games on my PS5 or PC. as soon as I finish one game, I'm left with hundreds of games to try, including the next installment in a long-term series. I have hundreds of games I want to try. When you're in the middle of a good story, it's hard to get away from yourself.

Still, I don't think the lure of the game path will last forever: the PS5 is loaded with great games ("Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" is particularly interesting), and the PC remains the best platform if you really want to crank up the graphics settings of your games. That doesn't change the fact that the PC is the best platform. I've come to enjoy "Yakuza" and "Gears of War," but I can only play any series for so long before it starts to repeat itself.

I also want to be cautious about how much I praise Xbox Game Pass; it is a great service at a reasonable price, but I question whether it is sustainable. Microsoft wouldn't be the first company to lure new subscribers with a subscription that's too enticing, then eliminate features or raise prices over time; if Netflix can do it, anyone can.

Still, for now, Xbox Game Pass is arguably the best thing Microsoft has developed in the gaming space, minus the Xbox Series X itself, and the PS5 has plenty of room to grow in this area.