If you are 18 years old and you have applied for a Pass Culture, you can take advantage of the 300 euros in credit granted to benefit from three months of Xbox Game Pass PC offered. An unexpected offer that positions video games more than ever as a cultural asset.

The video game is indeed a cultural good like any other, whatever some people think and this is going to be confirmed. No, we are not going to tell you about the multiple accents placed on historical or societal representation in the various narrative arcs now implemented in video games from all walks of life and which show that video games evolve with the times, and even sometimes faster.

An element of the cultural life of many, we are not going to repeat over and over again its economic weight, the first leisure activity in France, even more so since the start of the pandemic with an incredible boom.

Video games in the Culture Pass, but not just anyhow

Since May 2021, all 18-year-olds can take advantage of 300 euros of credit on the Pass Culture, usable for 24 months to “buy cultural products”, physical or digital, offered on the platform. A sum offered by the Ministry of Culture and accessible via an application which makes it possible to finance books, musical instruments, vinyls, but also cinema tickets, tickets for the theater, concerts or museums, music lessons , digital subscriptions, apps and even video games.

The possible purchase of video games had caused a certain outcry when it was announced by Franck Riester, then Minister of Culture. Some already see users rushing to the store to buy the latest Call of Duty, GTA V or Assassin's Creed. But the Ministry of Culture had then provided safeguards.

Because, as the Pass Culture site specifies, it can only be the purchase of dematerialized games (no console, no physical games, no vouchers). And not all games are normally eligible.

According to the Pass Culture site, the game must therefore have a French publisher (Ubisoft, Microids, Focus Home Interactive, BigBen Interactive, Gameloft, Dotemu…) and obviously not designed by a French developer. Games published by PlayStation or Xbox are therefore theoretically excluded from the Culture Pass. Last condition and not least: the content must not present “any form of violence or pornographic character“, according to the criteria retained by the CNC or the FNJV. Suffice to say that Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, GTA and other very large FPS are excluded in fact.

Xbox makes its video game culture available

At first, the titles accessible from the search menu of the application in the video games category did not make you dizzy: games often quite old, certainly qualitative and to be discovered to evoke social subjects (the essential Another World, Seasons After Fall, A Normal Lost Phone…), or even the catalog of the BlackNut cloud gaming platform, but nothing transcendent.

This Wednesday, an unexpected announcement reinforced the possible attraction of the Culture Pass for many players: it will be possible to take advantage of the credit granted to subscribe for three months to the Xbox Game Pass, but only in its PC version. Do not expect to enjoy it on your Xbox or the expanded catalog of the console version. It's not planned.

A nice announcement for young people aged 18 (and from January 2022 partly for 15-17 year olds) which falls within the ceiling of 100 euros granted for digital goods. Xbox indicates that its entire catalog of more than 100 titles will be accessible. This therefore implies all the games offered, regardless of their publisher, since Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft or Age of Empires IV, the latest brand releases from Microsoft's gaming branch, under the Xbox Games Studios label yet therefore American, will be playable, just like the EA Play games, which we owe to Electronic Arts, another publisher from across the Atlantic. Halo Infinite is also set to appear there in early December. The project is carried by Xbox France and this seems to be enough to be integrated into the Culture Pass.

Good news, however, for players who will have a variety of games to test to perfect their video game culture, from blockbusters to original independent games.

An offer for new subscribers only

However, this offer is only available to new subscribers. It will not require you to enter bank details, the amount being deducted from the pass (9.99 euros/month at the usual rate, but no rate indicated for the moment as part of the Pass Culture). If you already had an account, you will have to create another one to take advantage of it. To take advantage of it, all you have to do is go to the Pass Culture website and submit your file to obtain your 300 euros of credit in the application.

“We are happy to see the video game (…) appear alongside other more traditional actors of culture in the offer of the Pass Culture“, welcomes one at Xbox France. “This partnership is a real pride for Xbox. In any case, it represents another opportunity for Xbox to bring even more players to the unlimited access gaming service with a taste in the form of teasers and gifts as Phil Spencer has explained that he wants to diversify. its games offer to attract even more people.

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