These 19 Games Will Be Included With Xbox Game Pass Core At Launch

That's great imo. A nice selection of diverse games.

And Dishonored is still 30fps in utterly dazing state, can't stand it more than few hours, patch it already for next gen at least fps boost

Looks good to me.

Why don't Microsoft just offer decent games each month its not rocket science instead of ditching the service comptly I mean compare games with gold to ps plus its an embarrassment

25+ decent/great games instead of 24 'indies' that everyone complains are not 'good' enough games, not worth 'playing' games for the same price - seems like an upgrade to me.

As a GPU subscriber, we may 'lose' those 24 games but with 'great' games added every month, a significant portion of those being brand New releases too, there is 'no' reason to add games from Gold to my Library as Game Pass always has Something 'better' to play so I never get round to playing any 'Games with Gold' anyway. They can probably add 'more' to Game Pass without paying money to add GwG games too.

With MS increasing in Size, more Studios to bring 'more' games to Game Pass, the Games with Gold would never get a look in...

@Dan1283 there's no point comparing games with gold with ps plus. They are removing it, probably because they couldn't offer better games with it.

This will likely make sure they can offer a better selection of games consistently.

Given a lot of games are here with sequels currently in the works or planned (Gears, Fallout, State of Decay, Hellblade, Fable), I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft Flight Simulator gets added here before the release of MFS 2024.

I also imagine The Outer Worlds (base game) will be added before the release of The Outer Worlds 2. Would be a smart way to get people interested in some of their upcoming sequels if they do that, in my opinion at least...

Absolutely hate this, it's completely redundant.
Just bundle multiplayer with regular Gamepass and have it cost slightly more or significantly less with ads.

@Scirius They did FPS boost for the Definitive Edition.

Digital Foundry did a breakdown of this a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShSivSvHQWI

@Dan1283 Instead of 24 'mediocre' games a year, you'll get access to 25+ great games you can play instantly. Adding 'better' games to Games with Gold comes at a Cost to MS and no doubt would pass that cost onto the consumer.

The games are already in Game Pass and as you are a 'Game Pass Core' member, you'll get access to a curated list of 25+ games instead of being drip fed a mediocre game every 'half month' and it enables MS to keep the cost down but add more 'value'.

Solid collection a few of my friends will no longer have an excuse to not try the amazing Grounded.

@Dan1283 compare Xbox game pass to PlayStation Plus Premium and it's an embarrassment for Sony that they can't release day one games on it

A loss for me. I have access to those games already. The indies were games that weren't on Game Pass, so as an Ultimate suscriber I have less games.

@Lup but Xbox seems to be releasing more games on gamepass over the next few years so you will end up with more games.

@ZuneTattooGuy I don't mean gamepass gamepass in my opinion wipes the floor with ps plus especially with day one games I mean the free gmaes every month

@Lightning720 of course they could of offered better games than that it's not hard to be honest lol

This is a confusing list. I wish there was some logic to it, like "games that are 2 years old", but I guess they are trying to mimic that PlayStation Plus collection that got canceled recently, at least in vibe?

@Dan1283
Gold and Plus games aren't free. You do have to pay $10/month and keep paying it to play the "free" games. However if you have an Xbox why not pay the $15/month and get access to a lot of games?

@Dan1283 it is quite hard "lol".

You have to consider contracts, pricing, impact on other subscriptions, among a lot of other stuff.

They could have offered better games, but what would the cost of that be? Would that have led to a price increase for customers? Would that have meant fewer people subscribed to game pass ultimate? What would the impact of that be?

Business decisions like this are never easy.

@Lightning720 the as long as it improves gamepass I'm all for it that's all that matters really for me

Does this mean Microsoft will be able to report their Game Pass subscription numbers as having a big increase when folks go from Gold to Core, technically? Or did they already include Xbox Live Gold members in those numbers?

@ZuneTattooGuy yes definitely I agree I mean gamepass Is great and looking like it's going be getting better soon as well don't need nothing else to be honest with gamepass especially once the 1st party games start dropping its going be amazing and the Activision blizzard games as well i for one can not wait

@Lightning720

Yeah but I'm talking as an Ultimate suscriber. I already have access to these games. The only thing this does is taking my monthly "crappy" games from me with nothing in its place.
It's an amazing deal if you were paying for Gold and not Ultimate.
If you were paying for Ultimate you are losing games.

@Lup
We are losing nothing, we will still have access to the games Core has, just way more games and Day 1 games which will be very important with Starfield and moving forward. I have a strong feeling 2024 onwards Microsoft will be unleashing an onslaught of awesome games.

@ZuneTattooGuy is it though? You are paying for those day 1 releases. Ps premium is $120 a year (or $100 if you want extra instead which is mostly the same) vs game pass ultimate which works out to $203.88 a year.

Not necessarily a bad deal depending on what you value for your money, but the two services aren't one-to-one comparable.

@ZuneTattooGuy

Ultimate is losing those monthly indie games. Good or not.
The games offered in Core are on Ultimate already.

@ZuneTattooGuy We're losing monthly "free" games. MS aren't offering Ultimate users anything in return or lowering the cost we're simply getting less for the same price.

This is nothing but good news.

Sooooooo when are the 12 month deals going to be available?

I enjoyed buying 12 months of Gold on sale for $40-$50.

Or is this just more of forcing Game Pass down our throats?

@Dan1283 you are missing the point, sure I THINK they could offer better games, but at the end of the day MS wants to bundle everyone under a single service, Game Pass, that works the same for all consumers. Giving away old games isn't the Game Pass model.

They are basically rebranding Gold and updating the free monthly game with a reduced Game Pass list. People had Gold for online play, that's not changing, what is changing is the monthly offer that I bet will be better now.

Wish Sea of Thieves was in here, but I'll take ESO. Maybe Fallout 76 sucks less than people say, as well.

Also, we're only getting new games 2-3 times per year. So every 6 months, we'll get something new. How much that is remains to be seen, but I don't expect much.

Stupid move for gamepass ultimate subscriber who lose free Games, only good for Microsoft it Will push peolple who are not gamepass subscribers toward the program with this list of games.

12 bucks a year less than the Games Pass console, I don’t see any point in this tier TBH…

@DennisReynolds
Nobody with Gamepass really cares that Microsoft was giving them two free games a month. There is already over 100 games and more every month to dig through.

@Lup
Yup but on Ultimate there is a ton offered, a list of new ones every month. Nothing is really lost by not getting the two games a month

@Grayjedi13
If you are paying full price for Ultimate instead of doing a simple google search to find it cheaper I can't help you. I am good for the next 6 months on Ultimate and it cost me a whole $40 lol

@Grayjedi13 Are you forgetting that Microsoft let you use 3rd party codes? you don't have to buy from their store, you can get Ultimate Gamepass Cheaper than PS Plus Tiers.

Sony Stopped letting you use 3rd party digital codes so your stuck with Sonys prices.

@ZuneTattooGuy

Yeah, I get that.
I'm only saying those games were always going to be added anyways.
So for me, it's losing two games every month.

No Starfield? Ouch

@ZuneTattooGuy Not the point though, we have lose something but gain nothing back.

@DennisReynolds
Sure but it's a loss no one cared about. Every month people, especially here, complained hard about the two free games. You gain Microsoft not having to waste their time and putting that energy into getting new games for gamepass.

@Sifi Huh. I'm a new s series owner, and it didn't occur to me to look since any other type of subscription service pretty much just has one place to buy from. How can 3rd party venders be selling game pass for so much less?

@MattT3142 meant Dishonored 2

I get it now. You get normal Live services and all these games are a gateway drug for GP Ultimate.

You can buy most of these games on sale for the same price as a year of this program and actually own the games, and the Deals & Discount will either be the same selections as Gold's or worst case scenario, the same as regular Game Pass... I can't believe they actually made something worse than Gold, presumably just to say 'look at all the new Game Pass members!' to shareholders who know as much about gaming as the FTC.

@ZuneTattooGuy Its not so much that Sony can't release games Day 1 on PS+ premium, its that people will actually buy Sony made games. Don't forget, Xbox started putting their games on GP because they weren't selling anyway.

Very interesting list. I was curious. Not the type to use the service but I think the amount is suitable (even then Sony dropped their 20 games collection for Essential).

Surprised by Horizon 4 there and not 5 instead. Hmm. I know it's still new but it is still strange to me. Even then I get having their own racing game there or 'the best open world racing game' to critics at least makes sense. Others get delisted anyway or don't offer as much an experience of worth (not my preference of racing but that's fine) so I think it works.

For multiplayer and Indies fair inclusions. The Microsoft/Bethesda ones in there too.

For singleplayer games I was curious as well it's still an online multiplayer tier for most people. I think the price of $1 or so (whatever it is and different per currency of course) is interesting compared to the other tiers PC/Console but still.

I never felt the lowest tier was a bad option if people wanted just online (besides of course free to play for free) and we all get free base level cloud storage without paying for any tiers unlike Sony/Nintendo's offerings so benefit of a Microsoft account there I guess even if I never use it, it's nice to be there.

Still a good variety. While F4/F76 are different games I think a slot is wasted there and something else could have been put there instead, another RPG would do from the ESO MMO/F76 also being a MMO of sorts and with it's changes it's worthwhile by now.

Elder Scrolls Online even for the base game (expecting people to buy the expansions) is really great value in itself, the other multiplayer offerings are either expected (Among Us, Gears 5) or good.

Not a service I'd use I already have most of the games I care for by now and they aren't in either PS+ or Gamepass anyways only the bargain delisted games or particular ones for me right now. Odd Indies that don't show up in there and such. Or the AAs at cheap prices.

When Grid Legends, many of the Square games of 2022 or certain others aren't worth much I got them cheap. Klonoa, Atari 50 (waiting so long to come down in price then gave in I was skip of waiting another year for it to get cheaper just to play some Jaguar and Lynx games and see the documentary videos/whole experience) and many others for $28, $30, $47 varying depending.

So any that get to $20-30 my currency value I'd rather just buy them when they hit the 6mths/1year period which they did and as they never go to Gamepass/PS+ and have the game physical to use which I have done for Grid Legends on Gamepass/PS+ just bought the game for $30 and it suited as a gift when I got it for a birthday anyway and enjoyed it so much to platinum it that it kind of worked out.

Great services no doubt though, just some games it doesn't suit or if they are too old the deals aren't going to happen for obvious reasons of old games that aren't suitable/relevant anymore to do so or worth nothing anymore.

@themcnoisy
Here's a novel concept if you truly cared about the two random indie games you got a month then why not help indie developers and just randomly buy two indie games a month?

@Serpentes420
Yes no one would have bought Bethesda's next original IP so that's why they are giving away Starfield. The reason Sony won't release day one games on PS Plus is because they can't see the big picture. They would rather collect the $70 upfront and be done with it rather than collect $15 a month forever. Many gamers don't have the funds to buy multiple $70 games a year and when turds like Forspoken steal their $70 they are less inclined to fork over another $70 on an unknown. Gamepass is brilliant because of the low cost low risk of stepping out of you comfort zone and trying new games.

So Ultimate Users will pay more for less, not nice

@ZuneTattooGuy
Call me nobody then, since I cared, more so for the 360games they added

Unless I can get GP Ultimate cheap somehow again I won't be resubscribing when my sub runs out. Will just pick up cheap games on sale instead.

@ZuneTattooGuy Sure but it's a loss no one cared about. Every month people, especially here, complained hard about the two free games.

You gain Microsoft not having to waste their time and putting that energy into getting new games for gamepass.

I tried to argue both of these (very correct) points yesterday. I'd tell you to see where it got me, but... well, yeah. It's the typical kneejerk reaction to change. This time next year not only will nobody be complaining about GWG not being a thing anymore, they'll barely remember it even was a thing.

For those that haven't already done so, might as well do the 3:2 Xbox Gold Conversion Method now so you have Ultimate locked in for the foreseeable future.

@Scirius game is still solid. You’re crying because current get has you spoiled lol

@Markatron84 But to be fair, GWG used to offer excellent games, then they intentionally made it suck to sell more GP subs instead, now they finally kill it and make it a bad GP sub, and people celebrate that they took a good thing and made it a bad thing to make you buy their other thing before finally ending it which also makes their other thing worse. It was bad, but it was bad because they wanted it to be bad so you don't buy it, when it was previously good.

Ultimately it's just an online paywall same as the 360 days that introduced the paywall, and instead of throwing in a free games bone, they first made the free games suck, then made the free games replaced with token ancient game rentals. The whole package exists to remind you to "just buy GPU, cheapskate."

I already sub GPU and haven't taken the free games in a long time, so nothing changes for me, but, it's still a lame Jim Ryan-shaped move.

@NEStalgia like I said, GWG will soon be a distant memory and nobody will care or pay much mind to it once being a thing.

Of course, people will find something else to complain about - probably something along the lines of the GP Core games don't rotate enough, GP games don't include DLC or Phil Spencer didn't kiss me today - but that's people. Mark my words, GWG dying a death isn't that big of a deal. People (I gesture around these very comment sections) already moaned constantly about it and how it needed to either improve or go away, and they were absolutely right. Now that it is going away, they're still not happy.

I'm not trying to troll or start an argument (and I never was, PX), I'm just telling it how it is.

@BreadicusRex or is playing in 2023? Though your comment shows your mindset, asking for improvements isn't crying, feeling insecure about criticism toward some game? That's fanboyism

Bottom line - its a move designed in part to incentivise people to move to Game Pass Ultimate.

MS are a business at the end of the day any opportunity to push users toward the more expensive tier they will take it.

@Markatron84 I get your point, but IMO the issue is they didn't actually they improve it. They renamed it, changed the monthly price, kept the yearly price the same, continue paywalling online, and after nerfing the monthly games from good games to terrible games, have now simply replaced terrible games to keep with a small selection of ancient good games to rent. It's not bad and it's not that GWG will be missed as it was, so much as, people expected improvement and instead got at best a sidegrade.

Of course the masses won't care, but the overall Xbox player base is relatively small to begin with so much more of it is "enthusiasts" as a percentage than the other two platforms, so a larger portion of the player base notices these things than the causal-driven platforms.

I love everything about this. Xbox can finally flex its muscles and show off its IP (post-acquisitions). I already subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate and honestly encourage everyone to pull the trigger and do the same thing. You can ALWAYS find good deals on cdkeys and others, year-round. I use a ***** PC at work to sometimes play older titles and it's awesome. I also have enjoyed Xcloud when traveling, though hotel internet kinda sucks. It's got everything and it's priced really well, even without discounts.

I am very excited to be able to play Forza Horizons, Halo, Gears, Fallout, and Doom in addition to online gameplay. Definitely justifies the $60 👍

@NEStalgia Wait their prices are increasing?