Xbox Game Pass has ruined the console's Prime Day deals

techradar.com:

As is usually the case, Amazon Prime Day has, overall, been pretty decent for gaming deals. Across PS5, Switch and Xbox, we've seen some absolute steals on games ranging from AAA blockbusters to indie gems.

That's all good for PS5 and Nintendo Switch, but deals for Xbox Series X|S games really just feel like they're keeping up appearances. Why? Because Xbox Game Pass exists, and it's still one of the best overall deals in all of gaming.

That shouldn't be news to anyone at this point, but it does leave Prime Day deals for Xbox games feeling pretty obsolete. After all, why should I pick up Sea of Thieves or Forza Horizon 5 from Amazon when I can play them almost instantly by downloading them from Game Pass? All at the low cost of a monthly subscription, no less.

Both Game Pass and its premium Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier continue to be exceptional value for money. The service is still routinely delivering access to incredible games, many of which land on Game Pass on day one of release.

Those include titles from Xbox Game Studios, which Microsoft has committed to Xbox Game Pass day one launches for. Don't fancy paying full price for a game you're not sure you'll even enjoy? Game Pass eliminates that risk. Like it? You've got access to a new favorite without paying a penny. And if you don't, you can simply uninstall with the only loss being a small amount of invested time.

While there are some exceptions to these Prime Day deals (Far Cry 6 on Xbox Series X dropped to an impressively low price), the vast majority of Xbox discounts felt anemic. And if you have an Xbox Series S as your console of choice, they're entirely redundant due to that console's digital-only format.

Xbox Game Pass is also one of those subscription services