You Can Play Xbox Games Without An Xbox For Under $100

Microsoft just announced that it’s bringing its worsening subscription service Game Pass, which gives access to a revolving catalog of first-and-third party titles for a monthly fee, to Amazon’s Fire Sticks in a continued bid to expand outside of the Xbox ecosystem. Now, thanks to a wild deal on a Fire Stick bundle, Microsoft and Amazon are striking while the iron’s hot.

As spotted by The Verge’s Tom Warren, there is currently a bundle available on Amazon that nets you a Fire Stick TV 4K Max—which is the highest end version of the model—as well as an Xbox Controller for the Series X/S and a month of Game Pass Ultimate, as long as you’re a new member who’s never subscribed before. With the latter tier of Game Pass, players will not only get access to the base Game Pass catalog (or as much of it that can be streamed via the cloud to the Fire Stick) but also PC Game Pass!

As long as you have a TV capable of using the Fire Stick, or even a PC capable of running some games, that means that you can have access to Xbox’s catalog, a new media device, and a controller for about $80. You can also get this deal with the base 4K Fire Stick for $60. If you already have a console, the deal might seem unappealing to you, but for someone who’s only just now looking to get into the Xbox ecosystem, it sounds a little too good to be true. While there are definitely some caveats, it’s a pretty killer offer though.

Fire Sticks, as well as similar devices like Roku, are quickly becoming the norm in households, especially as smart TVs seem to be depreciating more and more quickly these days. My own set is a shell of its former self after some years, and it’s probably only a matter of time before it stops being supported altogether. A Fire Stick is a great and cost-effective way to keep on top of things without having to worry about dwindling support for your device or built-in redundancies. At that point, Game Pass and the controller are just an added bonus.

My only real issue with the deal is the fact that the Game Pass catalog is only accessible via the cloud on the Fire Stick. Though I’ve had pleasant experiences with cloud streaming Xbox games recently, I’m not entirely convinced of its viability. The 4K Max model features Wi-Fi 6E support, which should theoretically make it smoother to stream despite having multiple connections on the same signal, which could alleviate my concerns. Otherwise, folks should expect a wide range of titles on Game Pass, though they won’t have access to everything on offer, and due to the nature of streaming—as opposed to playing something natively installed—the visual quality will be impacted.

Honestly, the controller alone, which retails for about $50 alone, makes me think that I should pick it up. It’d be neat to be able to play my Xbox games in the living room—where the Fire Stick would be closer to my router—without moving my console from its current spot in the house. A new dedicated media device and a controller for less than $100 makes that almost too good an offer to pass up.