Last week Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced the launch of Xbox Game Pass, a new gaming subscription plan set to go live later this spring. For $9.99 a month, subscribers get unlimited play of more than 100 games, including Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, Mad Max, NBA 2K16, LEGO Batman, Gears of War, Soul Caliber II and more. The games can be downloaded directly to Xbox One consoles, so streaming, bandwidth and connectivity issues aren’t a concern, and the games can be played online or off.

“At Xbox, we put gamers at the center of everything we do and remain committed to giving you the freedom to play the games you want, with the friends you want, on the devices you want. This year is shaping up to be an exciting one for gamers. As we prepare to launch Project Scorpio this holiday, bringing the most powerful console ever made to the Xbox One family of devices, we continue to make platform improvements to connect the growing community of players on Xbox Live and add to a robust and diverse portfolio of games across Xbox One and Windows 10,” said Microsoft in the announcement.

Xbox Game Pass sounds like a good deal for gamers, but there is one major drawback – every month new games will cycle in and others will cycle out. This will be problematic for gamers who love a particular game if it is taken out of the rotation. To ease the sting, Microsoft will offer a 20 percent discount on Xbox One game purchase and 10 percent of related add-ons as long as the base game is in the Xbox catalog.

“Download and experience games in their full fidelity from top industry publishers and play offline for up to 30 days, Xbox Game Pass is truly your ticket to endless play,” said Microsoft in the Game Pass FAQs.

Microsoft started testing Xbox Game Pass last week with select members of the Xbox Insider Program. Initially, testing will only include a limited number of titles.The new gaming subscription will be rolled out to 27 markets later this spring, but Xbox Live Gold members will get an exclusive preview before the broader launch.

Xbox Live Gold is Microsoft’s current subscription program, also available for $9.99 a month with a one-month purchase or $59.99 a year if purchased for 12 months. With this subscription, members get multiplayer gaming, free games, parties and party chat, exclusive discounts, game demos, access to entertainment apps like Netflix, Hulu and Twitch, sports apps and live TV from NBC, CBS, FOX and other channels. Xbox Game Pass subscribers do not need to have an Xbox Live Gold membership unless they want to play multiplayer games.

Xbox Game Pass will only be available on Xbox One consoles and will include some Xbox 360 backward compatible games, but it will not otherwise be available on Xbox 360 consoles.

Microsoft’s announcement comes about a month after Nintendo’s announcement that it would be adding a subscription component for its new Nintendo Switch console which is in the process of being launched now.

The response on Twitter from gamers was positive:

Insider Take:

Microsoft has already experienced success with Xbox Live Gold, and since its gaming revenue dropped by 3 percent during the second quarter of its fiscal year 2017, Microsoft needs to make up the money somehow. With this new offering, Microsoft can add more recurring revenue to its coffers while giving gamers another option for unlimited play, online or off. There are some drawbacks like the rotation of games and being limited to Xbox One, but it seems to otherwise be a good move for Microsoft, especially as an audience builder for its next console.