The Xbox Game Pass service, which offers access to games both new, old, and exclusive to the Xbox One console platform to download and play is finally PC bound. With Microsoft talking about the move in the past, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has made the announcement official ahead of E3.

And before your mind wanders to the idea of another platform on PC that will house PC titles - Microsoft confirms that in addition to its own Xbox Game Studios titles coming to the Windows 10 storefront and Xbox Game Pass for PC (including Gears 5, Age of Empires: DE, Age of Empires II: DE and Age of Empires III: DE) these titles will also be released on Steam.

As per Phil's statement, "As the creators of Windows, we have a unique responsibility to ensure we’re investing in experiences that benefit players everywhere, while respecting the PC community’s preference for an open, highly customisable platform." Very cool.

In terms of release timing, pricing, and the titles that will launch with the subscription service, these details are expected to be made available at E3. But, so far what's being teased sounds as robust as the Xbox One version of the service - of which we're firm believers that it's the best value for money in gaming today.

Xbox Game Pass for PC will give players unlimited access to a curated library of over 100 high-quality PC games on Windows 10, from well-known PC game developers and publishers such as Bethesda, Deep Silver, Devolver Digital, Paradox Interactive, SEGA, and more. And just as we committed on the console, it is our intent to include new games from Xbox Game Studios in Xbox Game Pass for PC the same day as their global release, including titles from newly acquired studios like Obsidian and inXile. We’re working with over 75 developers and publishers to bring PC content to the service and we’ll ensure the library remains curated and full of great PC titles across a variety of genres, with new games added every month.

Another nice little bit of info is that Windows 10 and the storefront is getting Win32 app support. Which means basically any PC game from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95 and up could potentially make its way to Xbox Game Pass for PC. With backwards compatibility a big part of the service on Xbox One, with Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles included, this could lead to some all-time classic PC titles making their way across. Again, very cool.

No word yet if current Xbox Game Pass subscriptions will work on PC, but we're assuming they will. As part of the announcement Microsoft is touting the new Xbox Game Bar update for Windows 10 that will help facilitate finding friends and groups for cross-play between PC and console.

We'll have more after the Xbox E3 2019 Briefing on Monday June 10. Oh, and as this was one of our predictions for E3 we'll add in one more crazy one based on the image provided for this announcement. Microsoft will partner with hardware makers to release Xbox branded PCs and peripherals that will include Xbox Game Pass for PC subscriptions.