Xbox and PC Game Pass: what to expect in 2023

We have said several times that 2023 promises to be a year of fundamental importance for Xbox, in particular as regards this new generation which is struggling to get into gear and could find the right titles to establish itself in this vintage. Consequently, this also applies to Xbox Game Pass, given that the service is hand-in-hand with the Microsoft ecosystem and now represents a deeply characterizing element for Xbox. The relevance of 2023, on the other hand, also derives from the problems encountered in 2022: the postponement of Starfield and Redfall profoundly changed the scenario of the end of last year, consequently substantially enriching the beginning of the new year, with a significant concentration of exits already in the first half of 2023.

We are still waiting for some more precise announcements on the plans for the new year, with various rumors talking about a possible presentation event in these first few months and perhaps even in January. However, we can already draw an initial assessment of the 2023 of Xbox Game Pass because there are so many games that have already been announced that they are arriving within the service and already on the basis of these data we can consider the next few months to be extremely rich for the subscription catalogue. However, it could also be a time of significant changes for the platform, which could involve the organization of the service in addition to the simple play offer.

Changes in sight?

Xbox Game Pass is now a mature service, heading towards its sixth year of activity, but having started as a pioneering experiment on the video game front, it still has ample room for modification. Some Announcements could emerge in the course of 2023, amid undoubtedly positive prospects for users but also possible less pleasant drifts, such as a possible upward adjustment of the price. There are many who think that the service costs too little for what it offers, and as internal production increases, it is possible that Microsoft will decide to increase the subscription prices, as has already been announced with regard to that of the individual games.

On this front, the famous acquisition of Activision Blizzard could also play an important role, which could have different effects on the Game Pass situation. On the one hand, obviously, the introduction of a mega-publisher of this caliber would bring extremely positive effects to the service catalogue, and this is obviously the most far-reaching reflection and also one of the major reasons that prompted Microsoft to carry out the operation .

On the other hand, the increase in the value offered could correspond to a new organization of the service and perhaps to a revision of the price. In any case, beyond the assumptions we can focus above all on the enormous expansion of the offer in quantitative and qualitative terms, in the event that all the Activision and Blizzard series were to become part of Game Pass.

From the point of view of distribution and use of the service, we have begun to see some important innovations especially on the Xbox front cloud, which has expanded considerably, even landing on Samsung smart TVs through a dedicated app, but we can expect further evolutions in this sense. It is likely that the app could be extended to other TVs and operating systems, while the idea of ​​a sort of mini-console specially developed for cloud gaming remains on the horizon, perhaps recovering that “Keystone” project which at the moment seems to be been shelved by Microsoft.

First Party games

With 23 studios underway, it’s clear that Microsoft has quite a few projects underway to enter Xbox Game Pass, but in 2023 we will only see a few. As for i first party games coming soon on the service, these are basically all the titles released by Xbox Game Studios, given that the rule is the direct entry of Xbox exclusives into the catalog. Because of this, Game Pass’ predictions for 2023 basically match what we’ve made for Xbox in general, and games match. It is a question of seeing which titles will actually be able to arrive in 2023, but in the meantime we can have (almost) certainties: based on what was reported during the 2022 Xbox & Bethesda Showcase, Starfield should arrive by the first half of the year , Redfall and Forza Motorsport, for games developed internally by Xbox Game Studios.

In this sense, an interesting first arrival will already take place in January with Age of Empires 2, followed later by Age of Empires 4 on a date to be specified, both arriving on consoles for the first time after the PC launch. The main triptych will remain the one shown above, with Redfall possibly arriving around May, Starfield within the first half of 2023 and Forza Motorsport in the spring. If these are expected for the first part of the year, there are still another six months left to be filled with other titles and we can indulge ourselves in various forecasts on these. The main suspect is perhaps Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, which could be the most advanced title compared to the others from the Xbox teams, while less likely but still possible is Obsidian’s Avowed. Then there are the non-exclusive internal productions, such as Minecraft Legends and Ghostwire Tokyo, while the others announced such as Everwild, Fable, Perfect Dark and State of Decay 3 are all probably arriving well after the end of 2023, even if obviously we do not exclude anything first.

Third Party Exclusives

When it comes to “exclusive” third parties on Game Pass you can find yourself faced with a particular interpretation of the concept: often the agreements do not exclude the release on other platforms, perhaps as they are multiplatform titles, but which are launched on day one within the service. In many cases, these are simply classic exclusives, but there will be an increase in agreements that instead provide for simultaneous releases on rival platforms, with the great advantage, however, of being able to play them directly on Game Pass at launch, as will happen with Hollow Knight Silksong, with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and with Monster Hunter Rise. For the foreseeable future, the increase in first party releases is likely to decrease the high caliber third party exclusives on Game Pass, although for 2023 there are already very high profile games announced during the year.

The exclusivity agreements on Game Pass are usually more inclined to cover smaller productions, more belonging to the indie or medium sphere such as Lies of P and Ara: History Untold, leaving the task of the triple offer to Xbox Game Studios games A in the catalogue. However, for this year there are still very important releases in store such as STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl and Ark 2, among the titles already announced. There are already many indies scheduled for 2023, as it has always been for the service catalogue: among the most visible are some of the most interesting games ever in this area, such as Replaced, Amnesia: The Bunker, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, Planet of Lana and The Last Case of Benedict Fox.

The list of Game Pass games already expected in 2023

We close with the classic list of games that have already been announced for Game Pass in 2023, which alone is enough to make it clear what kind of year awaits us with the Microsoft service. We are already over 50 titles and obviously it is still a very partial list, awaiting the individual announcements that will mark, as usual, the new monthly introductions.

JANUARY:

• Persona 3 Portable – January 19th
• Person 4 Golden – January 19th
• Monster Hunter Rise – January 20th
• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – January 31st
• Inkulinati – January 31st
• Roboquest

FEBRUARY:

• Atomic Heart – February 21st

MARCH:

• Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty – March 3rd
• Amnesia: The Bunker
• Way to the Woods
• Ghostwire Tokyo

2023 TBA:

• Goldeneye
• Minecraft Legends
• Redfall
• Age of Empires 4
• Go Motorsport
• Starfield
• Humankind
• Lightyear Frontier
• Ereban: Shadow Legacy
• Hot Wheels Unleashed GOTY Edition
• Flintlock: Siege of the Dawn
• Thirsty Suitors
• STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
• Routine
• Exomecha
• Lies of P
• Warhammer Darktide
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• RailwayEmpire 2
• Bounty Star
• Slime Rancher 2 (Full Release)
• Valheim
• Cocoons
• Ara: History Untold
• Party Animals
• ARK 2
• Replaced
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• Planet of Wool
• Ravenlok
• The Last Case of Benedict Fox
• BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Special Edition
• Guilty Gear -Strive-
• Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
• Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
• Solar Ash
• Maquettes
• Pigeon Simulator
• Mad Streets
• The Big Con
• Infinite Guitars
• Turnip boy robs a bank