Google may introduce Play Pass, a subscription service for paid games and apps

Subscription services are all the rage now. PlayStation Now, Xbox Game Pass, EA Access, Discord Nitro; there’s no end to the number of new subscription services releasing on different platforms. It would now appear that Google is also working on their own form of subscription service for use on Android devices.

Spotted by XDA recognized developer Quinny899, there is a new option available to toggle in Xposed Framework detailed “Enable Play Pass.”

When changed from “false” to “true”, the feature didn’t appear to do anything… yet. Decompiling the code, he discovered that Play Pass did indeed link to a form of subscription with the words “PLAYPASS_SUBSCRIPTION” being a very noticeable line in the feature’s code.

Google Opinion Rewards have also been seen asking users what they would think of an “app store [that] has a subscription that offers hundreds of dollars worth of paid apps and games for a monthly fee”. Not very subtle, Google. Not subtle at all.

I think that a subscription service would be a great addition to the Play Store, provided the monthly fee isn’t too egregious. It’s always nice to have the option and, as a Game Pass subscriber, we’ve started to see the benefits of game and app subscription services that are genuinely good.

Source: XDA Developers/Windows Stream

Thanks to Atec Solution for the tip.