Microsoft has revealed the new PC Game Pass HowLongtoBeat feature that provides useful stats on the expected playtime for a game, before you decide what to play or what to buy. This partnership with the community-driven HowLongtoBeat website comes with the new Xbox app update on PC for September 2022, which also comes with better performance and other improvements for the program.
PC Game Pass HowLongtoBeat stats, explained
The provided example above from Microsoft of the Death Stranding entry in the app shows what you can expect from this new integration. In the details tab of the game, you will be able to see four different estimates on how long it will take for you to finish it depending on your playstyle.
If you’re just interested in the main story and reaching the end at an even pace, you can look at the Main Story stat. If you want to finish the main story but also complete side missions and other major content, the Main + Extras entry will be more useful for you. Those who want to finish everything a game has to offer, and grab all of the Achievements in the meantime, will want to see the Completionist stat. The Combined stat is a weighted mix that considers all the playtimes recorded for the game. In the Death Stranding screenshot, it will take 40 hours to complete the game’s main story and 113 hours to reach 100% completion. That sounds about right, actually.
You can also submit your own times for each category, especially in case your playthrough is different than the stats listed. All told, knowing how long it will take to finish a game is neat feature that could be duplicated on other storefronts like Steam and Epic Games Store.
As for technical improvements, Microsoft says that the Xbox app on PC will now launch up to 15% faster, search results are now up to 20% faster, and crash-free sessions have improved to 99.9%. Also, users reporting that games haven’t downloaded or installed properly have dropped in half.
In other news, The Sims 4 is going free-to-play starting in October, and Xbox Discord integration now works but doesn’t have a dedicated app.
