The between Game Pass Core and Game Pass Ultimate?
Furthermore, there are financial incentives tied to the subscription service that affect digital purchasing. Members of Xbox Game Pass often receive "Deals with Game Pass," which provide significant discounts—sometimes up to 80%—on digital titles. While a non-subscriber can still buy these games, they will have to pay the standard retail price. Therefore, while a subscription isn’t a requirement for the transaction itself, it often acts as a gatekeeper to the best possible pricing.
However, the distinction between "owning" a game and "playing" a game is where the necessity of a subscription often becomes confusing. For over two decades, Xbox required a paid membership to access the multiplayer components of purchased games. While Microsoft recently removed this requirement for "Free-to-Play" titles like Fortnite or Warzone, you still generally need a subscription to play the online multiplayer modes of "premium" games you have purchased, such as Call of Duty or Madden. In this sense, you can buy the game without a subscription, but your access to its full feature set may be limited.