Meta's giving away free Xbox Game Pass subscriptions – here's how to get yours

Man wearing Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition headset playing Halo on a floating virtual screen — (Image credit: Xbox)

Quick Summary

Meta has bundled Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition membership with its Meta Horizon+ subscription service for Quest owners.

That means you'll get access to more than 50 Xbox games to play in your headset for free – on top of the more than 100 VR games available through Horizon+.

Meta is giving away free Xbox Game Pass membership with its own Meta Horizon+ subscription. That will give every Meta Quest owner who signs up a library of more than 50 Xbox games to stream on a virtual display in their headset, with 10 hours of cloud gaming access per month.

It's a similar deal to the one Discord started offering its Nitro subscribers in May. You don't have to pay any extra, but you will currently need an Xbox controller to play the games.

That's until Meta pushes a forthcoming update to the Touch Controllers for the Quest 3 and Quest 3S. They will soon be able to emulate an Xbox controller too, with the firmware patch rolling out "in the coming weeks".

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The games in the new free Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition include the likes of Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Overcooked 2, Grounded and DayZ. They don't give you a full, immersive VR experience but you can play them on a huge virtual screen inside the headset – up to the equivalent of a 26-foot display.

You can even choose to play them from within an Xbox-themed virtual space.

Of course, a Meta Horizon+ subscription doesn't just include Game Pass, it also gives you access to more than 100 virtual games you can download and play on a Quest.

A subscription costs $59.99 / £59.99 per year or $7.99 / £7.99 per month, with the first month free for new members. That's a lot of gaming for the usual price of just one console title.

You'll just need to own a compatible headset and away you go. We're also hoping to hear plans on new Meta Quest devices during Meta Connect in September.

Whatever happens T3 will keep you informed all the way.

Rik is T3’s news editor, which means he looks after the news team and the up-to-the-minute coverage of all the hottest gadgets and products you’ll definitely want to read about. And, with more than 35 years of experience in tech and entertainment journalism, including editing and writing for numerous websites, magazines, and newspapers, he’s always got an eye on the next big thing.

Rik also has extensive knowledge of AV, TV streaming and smart home kit, plus just about everything to do with games since the late 80s. Prior to T3, he spent 13 years at Pocket-lint heading up its news team, and was a TV producer and presenter on such shows as Channel 4's GamesMaster, plus Sky's Games World, Game Over, and Virtual World of Sport.