Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition Now Included With Meta Horizon+ — Full Games List and Everything You Need to Know

Xbox Game Pass is spreading its wings again, and this time it’s landing on your face — literally. Microsoft and Meta announced on July 21, 2026 that Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition is now included with Meta Horizon+, giving Quest headset owners access to over 50 games and 10 hours of monthly cloud gaming as part of their existing subscription. No separate Game Pass purchase needed.

This is the second partnership of this kind Microsoft has announced this year, following the Discord Nitro bundle that launched in May 2026. Here’s everything included, how to access it, and what’s coming next for Quest owners who want to play Xbox games.

Xbox Game Pass Family Sharing

What Is Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition?

Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition is the entry-level tier of Microsoft’s subscription service, introduced in May 2026 as a way to bring new players into the Xbox ecosystem without the full price commitment of Game Pass Standard or Ultimate. It’s not the full Game Pass library — it’s a curated selection of 50+ games designed to give players a real taste of the service. There’s no online multiplayer included in the base tier, and cloud streaming is capped at 10 hours per month, but downloaded games can be played locally for unlimited time on supported hardware.

The key thing that makes this tier interesting is how Microsoft is distributing it — not by selling it directly, but by bundling it inside existing subscriptions players already pay for. Rather than asking someone to sign up for yet another service, Microsoft is showing up in places people already subscribe to. Discord Nitro was first. Meta Horizon+ is second. The strategy is clearly about top-of-funnel reach: get players into the Game Pass library through a low-friction entry point, then let the library do the selling for an upgrade.

What’s Included in the Meta Horizon+ Bundle

Meta Horizon+ is Meta’s subscription service for Quest headset owners, currently priced at $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year. It normally includes a rotating catalog of VR games, monthly game drops, and exclusive discounts in the Meta Store. With the Xbox partnership, that same subscription now includes the Game Pass Starter Edition on top.

That means Meta Horizon+ subscribers now get access to:

• 100+ VR games from the existing Horizon+ catalog
• 50+ Xbox Game Pass titles via the Starter Edition
• 10 hours of cloud gaming per month to stream Game Pass titles
• Xbox Rewards for playing — points that carry over into the broader Xbox Rewards program

Combined, that’s over 150 games accessible at $7.99 per month — a price point that’s cheaper than the Discord Nitro bundle ($9.99/month) for a larger game count. If you already own a Meta Quest headset and pay for Horizon+, you’re getting the Xbox library added to your existing subscription at no additional cost starting today.

The Game Pass Starter Library — Confirmed Titles

Microsoft and Meta confirmed the following titles as part of the Starter Edition library available through the partnership:

• Fallout 4
• Fallout 76
• Grounded
• DayZ
• Deep Rock Galactic
• Overcooked 2
• SnowRunner

The full Starter Edition catalog runs to 50+ games across AAA and indie titles. The list above represents the headline confirmations from the official announcement. The complete library is accessible through the Xbox app once you’ve linked your accounts.

It’s worth noting that Grounded is particularly well-timed here — Obsidian’s survival game launched its 1.0 version earlier this month and PS5 players are getting it on August 11. Quest headset owners can now access it through their Horizon+ subscription without any additional purchase, which adds to what’s already been a major week for that game.

How to Access Game Pass on Your Meta Quest

The process is straightforward. The free Xbox app is available in the Meta Horizon Store — if you don’t already have it installed, search for it and download it on your Quest headset. From there, link your Microsoft account to your Meta account and your Starter Edition access activates automatically, provided your Horizon+ subscription is active and you’re in a supported region.

Games can be played in one of two ways. Titles you download from the Starter Edition library run locally on the Quest headset for unlimited play time. Cloud gaming through the 10-hour monthly cap lets you stream Game Pass titles without downloading them — useful for trying games or for titles that require more storage than you have available.

Progress syncs across all platforms you play on. Your progress goes with you whether you’re playing on Xbox console, PC, Meta Quest headset, or other supported devices. So if you start Fallout 76 on your Quest headset and want to continue on your Xbox console later, your save carries over through the standard Xbox cloud save system.

Quest Touch Controller Support for Xbox Games — Coming Soon

The one friction point right now is that Xbox games are obviously designed with standard controllers in mind, and Quest Touch controllers map differently. Meta has addressed this directly: Meta said it will roll out a gamepad emulator in the coming weeks, allowing Quest Touch controllers to function like an Xbox controller.

Until that emulator arrives, a physical Xbox controller is the smoothest way to play Xbox Game Pass titles on your Quest headset — and conveniently, Xbox controllers are already sold through Meta’s official accessories store as part of the two companies’ existing partnership. The emulator will lower the hardware barrier once it launches, letting players get into the Game Pass library with just the controllers that came in the box with their Quest headset.

How Does This Compare to Discord Nitro?

The Discord Nitro partnership launched in May 2026 as the first public rollout of the Starter Edition concept. At $9.99 per month for Discord Nitro, subscribers get the same Starter Edition benefits — 50+ games and 10 hours of cloud gaming — bundled into their existing Nitro subscription.

The Meta Horizon+ deal offers effectively the same Game Pass access at a lower monthly price ($7.99 vs $9.99), but the two serve different audiences. Discord Nitro targets gamers broadly — people who use Discord to communicate while gaming on any platform. Meta Horizon+ specifically targets Quest headset owners who are already investing in the VR ecosystem. Neither bundle replaces the other; they’re parallel on-ramps designed to reach different communities that Microsoft isn’t currently reaching through its direct Game Pass subscription page.

The annual Horizon+ price of $59.99 makes the value proposition particularly sharp if you’re already a Quest owner. That’s roughly $5 per month for a subscription that now includes 150+ games across VR and Xbox, which undercuts the cost of most single-platform gaming subscriptions.

What This Means for Xbox’s Broader Strategy

Xbox has spent the past year making clear that its future isn’t tied to selling hardware — it’s tied to putting Xbox games and services on as many screens as possible. Game Pass is already on PC, Xbox consoles, Samsung smart TVs, and various Android and iOS devices through cloud gaming. Adding Meta Quest to that list through Horizon+ is another step in the same direction.

VR gaming is still a niche market overall, but it’s one where Meta has built a genuinely large user base. The move deepens both tech giants’ partnership and will give Horizon+ subscribers access to more than 50 Game Pass titles alongside the service’s existing catalog of over 100 virtual reality games. For Microsoft, the upside is exposure to a paying subscriber base it wasn’t reaching through its direct channels. For Meta, a 150+ game library at $7.99 per month becomes a much stronger selling point for Horizon+ when pitching it to Quest owners on the fence about subscribing.

Whether this approach drives meaningful Starter Edition upgrades to Standard or Ultimate remains the real metric to watch. Microsoft isn’t breaking down conversion numbers publicly, but the Discord partnership has been running for two months now and the fact that a second major partnership followed suggests the early signals have been positive enough to continue the strategy.

TL;DR — Xbox Game Pass Starter + Meta Horizon+ Fast Facts

• Live date: July 21, 2026
• Price: Included with Meta Horizon+ at $7.99/month or $59.99/year — no extra charge
• Games included: 50+ Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition titles + 100+ Horizon+ VR games = 150+ total
• Confirmed Game Pass titles: Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Grounded, DayZ, Deep Rock Galactic, Overcooked 2, SnowRunner
• Cloud gaming: 10 hours per month included
• Cross-platform saves: Progress carries across Quest, Xbox console, and PC
• Controller support: Xbox controller recommended now; Quest Touch gamepad emulator rolling out in coming weeks
• How to access: Download the free Xbox app from the Meta Horizon Store and link Microsoft account
• Previous Starter Edition partnership: Discord Nitro at $9.99/month — launched May 2026
• Limitations: Region-dependent, device compatibility required, Microsoft account needed, no online multiplayer included

For more on what Microsoft and Xbox are doing right now, check out our breakdown of the Obsidian new Fallout game officially confirmed by Bethesda — the same Obsidian behind Grounded, one of the headline titles in this very Game Pass bundle — and the Grounded 2 PS5 launch on August 11 with the Into the Abyss update.