Technologies

Is Xbox Game Pass Really Cheaper Than Buying Games? We Do the Math

We break down if it’s worth it to buy an Xbox Game Pass subscription, or if you should just keep paying for individual games.

I grew up with a video game controller in my hands. Video games have gone through a major evolution since my childhood — and while everything else has become more expensive, games have stayed roughly the same price.

But in 2017, Microsoft launched Xbox Game Pass, followed by Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in 2019. These are subscription services that give players unlimited access to an expanding library of over 400 new and old games, and cost $120 or $180 for one year, respectively. XBGP lets you play on console or PC, and XBGPU lets you play console, PC and cloud gaming. These prices make either Game Pass plan attractive, but in the end, is it cheaper to buy physical copies of games?

I did the math and found a year of XBGPU with an Xbox Series S is a better value than buying physical copies of games to play on an Xbox Series X, especially if you play a lot of different games.

See at Xbox

You can also check out if streaming services or cable offer a better deal, and whether it’s cheaper to buy groceries or meal kits.

Xbox Game Pass vs. physical game copies

	Series S + XBGP	Series S + XBGPU	Series X + XBGP	Series X + XBGPU	Series X + XBGP + game	Series X + XBGPU + game	Series X + game
Console	$300	$300	$500	$500	$500	$500	$500
Subscription (1 year)	$120	$180	$120	$180	$120	$180	N/A
Physical game (1)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	$60-70	$60-70	$60-70

Total	$420	$480	$620	$680	$680-690	$740-750	$560-570

How I did the math

To calculate the costs, I started with the cost of the Series S, $300, and Series X, $500, since you need a console to play games on. The Series S is a digital-only console with no disc drive, so it can’t play physical copies of games. The Series X has a disc drive, so it can play either digital or physical copies of games. It’s important to include both, since the Series S is the more budget-friendly option, but the Series X has more gaming capabilities. If you already own either console though, you can scroll down for a yearly price breakdown of just the gaming service versus buying physical copies of the games.

Next, I found the price of each Xbox Game Pass plan without promotional deals, $10 and $15 a month. I multiplied both costs by 12 to give us the cost of the subscription over a one-year period. This is how we get $120 for XBGP and $180 for XBGPU.

Then, I found the price of new physical games. Many new games are $60, but game publishers are starting to increase game prices to $70, as was the case for NBA 2K21. Microsoft said it would start charging $70 for games made by its studios in 2023. That’s why there are two prices for new physical games.

A Series S with either Game Pass plan is budget-friendly gaming

We have two columns reflecting a Series S with one year of either game pass plan. A Series S with XBGP costs $420, the least expensive option. The Series S with XBGPU is $480, the second least expensive option. Both of these cost less than the Series X, and that’s before you buy a game or a subscription.

See Series S at Xbox

A Series X with either Game Pass plan and physical games cost more

There are five columns to show the Series X with one year of either Game Pass plan, Series X with one year of either Game Pass plan and physical games and Series X with just physical games.

As you might expect, the Series X with XBGPU and one physical game costs the most, at $740 or $750. Next, the Series X with XBGP and one physical game costs $680, and the Series X with XBGPU costs $680 or $690 with a $70 physical game. The Series X with XBGP costs $620. Finally, an Xbox Series X with one physical game costs $560 or $570.

See Series X at Xbox

What if you already have a Series S or X?

As you can see above, the consoles are responsible for the majority of the costs in the first year. For the second year, we remove the cost of the consoles, and this also gives us an idea of what the cost will look like moving forward.

	XBGP (1 year)	XBGPU (1 year)	Physical game (1)
Total	$120	$180	$60-70

As a reminder, one year of XBGP is $120, one year of XBGPU is $180 and a physical copy of a new game is between $60-70. You could buy up to three new $60 games in a year to equal the cost of XBGPU. If you buy $70 games, you can get two for the price of XBGPU or just one for the cost of XBGP. If you usually play more than two or three games a year, either Game Pass plan is worth it.

With both Game Pass plans, subscribers have access to over 400 games. Some of those games are new, like A Plague Tale: Requiem, while others are classics, like Doom. Games are added to the Game Pass library periodically, but they are also removed, like how Netflix adds and removes shows and movies over time. The number of games has also increased from when Microsoft launched the subscription service, so it’s safe to say that number will continue to rise.

Online play included with XBGPU, not physical games

Another important thing to consider is whether or not you plan on playing games online. If you want to do that with physical games, you need to subscribe to Xbox Gold Live.

	XBGP (1 year) + Xbox Live Gold (1 year)	XBGPU (1 year)	Physical game (1) + Xbox Live Gold (1 year)
Total	$180	$180	$120-130

Xbox Live Gold is $10 a month, or $60 a year. You would need to pay for a physical copy of a new game ($60-70) and then add the cost of one year of Xbox Live Gold ($60) to get $120-130.

Subscribe to Xbox Live Gold

If you have XBGPU then Xbox Live Gold is included with your subscription, so you don’t have to include that cost with your plan and you have access to the game library. However, an XBGP subscription doesn’t include Xbox Live Gold, so you’d have to pay for that separately or upgrade to XBGPU for the same cost.

Is either Xbox Game Pass plan worth it?

If you’re on a budget and want access to hundreds of games and online play, you should consider a Series S with XBGPU. And if you already have a console, XBGPU is still a great deal. You have unlimited access to over 400 games as compared to buying a few physical games, plus you can play online with your friends. If money isn’t an issue, then ball out with a Series X, XBGPU and as many physical games as you want.

For more We Do The Math, check out if Trader Joe’s is cheaper than other grocery stores, whether a meal kit is cheaper than buying groceries at the store or how much you could save by going meatless for one day a week.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for May 18, #707

Hints and answers for Connections for May 18, #707.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle is a mix of difficult and easy. The purple category does what most purple categories do, and makes you really break down how you think about the words. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: School days.

Green group hint: About there!

Blue group hint: Sure, let’s go.

Purple group hint: The Scarlett Letter.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Tasks for a student.

Green group: Encouraging responses in a guessing game.

Blue group: Up for anything.

Purple group: What «A» might mean.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is tasks for a student. The four answers are assignment, drill, exercise and lesson.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is encouraging responses in a guessing game. The four answers are almost, close, not quite and warm.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is up for anything. The four answers are easy, flexible, game and open.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is what «A» might mean. The four answers are area, athletic, excellent and one.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for May 18, #441

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 441 for May 18.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands will probably be easier if you have some basic knowledge about a certain type of vessel. You don’t really need to have ever been on one, since the answers show up in books and movies all the time. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Riding the wind.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: famed song by Christopher Cross.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

DULL, TILE, TILER, SEER, GALE, GALES, HAIL, SAIL, LEEK, GLUE, HALL, TALL, HEAT

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

HELM, HULL, KEEL, MAST, STERN, RIGGING, RUDDER, TILLER

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is SAILBOAT. To find it, start with the S that’s four letters down on the farthest row to the left, then wind across, up and down.

Technologies

Google I/O 2025: How to Watch and What to Expect

With Android 16 out of the way, Google I/O will certainly be all about AI.

Google I/O 2025 takes place on May 20 and 21 with Google’s big keynote happening on day 1. We expect Big G to talk about its myriad innovations across its ever-expanding portfolio of products — almost certainly with a huge focus on AI every step of the way. If we collectively cross our fingers, promise to be good and eat all our vegetables then we may even be treated to a sneak peek at upcoming hardware.

Read more: Android 16: Everything Google Announced at the Android Show

Google also hosted a totally separate event that focused solely on Android. The Android Show: I/O Edition saw the wrappers come off Android 16, with insights into the new Material 3 Expressive interface, updates to security and a focus on Gemini and how it’ll work on a variety of other devices.

By breaking out Android news into its own virtual event, Google frees itself to spend more time during the I/O keynote to talk about Gemini, Deep Mind, Android XR and Project Astra. It’s going to be a jam-packed event, so here’s how you can watch I/O 2025 as it happens and what you can look forward to.

Google I/O: Where to watch

Google I/O proper kicks off with a keynote taking place on May 20, 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. BST). It’ll almost certainly be available to stream online on Google’s own YouTube channel, although a holding video is yet to be available. There’s no live link on the I/O website yet, either, though you can use the handy links to add the event to your calendar of choice. Expect links to a livestream to be available closer to the day.

What to expect from Google I/O 2025

Little chat about Android 16: As Google gave Android 16 its own outing already, it’s likely that it won’t be mentioned all that much during I/O. In fact at last year’s event, Android was barely mentioned, while uses of the term «AI» went well over a hundred.

Android XR: Google didn’t talk much about Android XR during the Android show, focusing instead on the purely phone-based updates to the platform. We expected to hear more about the company’s latest foray into mixed-reality headsets in partnership with Samsung and its Project Moohan headset, so it’s possible that this is being saved for I/O proper.

Gemini: With Android being spun out into its own separate event, Google is evidently clearing the way for I/O to focus on everything else the company does. AI will continue to dominate the conversation at I/O, just as it did last year (though hopefully Google can make it more understandable) with updates to many of its AI platforms expected to be announced.

Gemini is expected to receive a variety of update announcements, including more information on its latest 2.5 Pro update which boasts various improvements to its reasoning abilities, and in particular to its helpfulness for coding applications. Expect lots of mentions of Google’s other AI-based products, too, including DeepMind, LearnLM and Project Astra. Let’s just hope Google has figured out how to make this information make any kind of sense.

Beyond AI, Google may talk about updates to its other products including GMail, Chrome and the Play Store, although whether these updates are big enough to be discussed during the keynote rather than as part of the developer-focused sessions following I/O’s opening remains to be seen.