LAST UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2020
After Microsoft took away my sweet supply of new Xbox Backwards Compatibility titles, my analysis thread was left in the dark. As the BC program is either cancelled or on hiatus until at least the end of this year my craving for a new analysis thread has grown. What better topic is there than Xbox Game Pass right now? After its inception about 3 years ago I thought it would be fun to see how the service has progressed from the start to where it is now. How many games did we get? What are some of the best supporters? What are the best months? These questions and loads more will be answered by the end of this post!
What is Xbox Game Pass?
For those unfamiliar with Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft describes it as "Xbox Game Pass has unlimited access to over 100 high-quality games—with titles added all the time. Whether you play console games, PC games, or both, there's a plan for you. Join Xbox Game Pass for one low monthly price and discover your next favorite game", but its also often described as the 'Netflix for games'. For more in-depth information you can view the official website or the OT right here on ERA. For this analysis I'm focussing solely on Xbox Game Pass For Console, since that is where it started and because the PC side is still in beta.
How Many Games Have Been On Xbox Game Pass?
Xbox Game Pass saw the light of day on June 1, 2017. Since it is a Netflix type subscription, games are added and removed all the time. So how many games have actually been on the service since launch? There currently is no list that covers all Game Pass games past and present, so I created a master list that includes all games that have come and gone since launch. This way we can determine the breakdown of total games, and what platforms.
Total Number of Games: 532
Xbox One: 419
Xbox 360: 109
Original Xbox: 4
How is the games library now compared to launch?
The succes of a service like Game Pass all depends on the content. The more content, the more appealing it is to subscribe to it. Game Pass launched with 114 games on June 1, 2017. So how has the service been developing over these past 40 or so months? Combining all the added and removed games we can see a healthy growth in terms of a baseline of games on GamePass. From about 150 games at the end of 2017 to nearly 250 games at the end of 2019, you can clearly see GamePass has been delivering more bang for buck over the last few years. These are the number of games on the service in said period, so that takes into account all games that were added and deleted in that period.
What is the average lifespan of a Game Pass game?
Game Pass being a subscription model means games usually don't stay on there forever. Outside of Microsoft' own titles, which do remain on there indefinitely, publishers can determine how long they want to have their game on the service. Now we still don't know anything about how revenue and profits for Game Pass are determined and shared between publishers, how much or if Microsoft 'pays' publishers to put their games on it, what periods publishers can choose from, all of these are still unknowns so all we can do is speculate or make educated guesses.
Having said that, I've gathered all the games that have come and also gone from Game Pass and rounded them up to see how the split is and what the averages are between titles. Now this only takes into account the games that have been added AND removed, so all the games that have been on there since launch are not accounted for as are all the new games that have yet to be removed. The graph below shows interesting results, as we can see that about 16.9% are on Game Pass for less than 12 months, 2.3% for 6 months or less. The vast majority of games, around 54%, are on Game Pass for at least 12 months. A sizeable chunk, roughly 16.9%, doubles that period and remains on Game Pass for over two years.
What is the platform split of new additions?
When Game Pass launched the split between Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles was still in favour of Xbox 360 titles. But what about all the new titles that have joined the service since? How many of those have been Xbox One and how many Xbox 360? Grouping this into 6 month periods its clear to see that Xbox One games have been the major focus of all the games that have joined since launch. In fact, Xbox 360 games have almost become non existent in terms of new additions, which to me is a sad development but was bound to happen since there have been no new backwards compatible titles.
Who are the best supporters of Xbox Game Pass?
For Microsoft to grow the number of games on the service it needs to entice publishers to support it. Microsoft are obviously frontrunners of their own service and have declared full support for it, even putting its own titles on the service right at launch. But what about all the other publishers out there? Who has been the most supportive since launch and who has been missing from it completely?
Checking the master list has determined that 155 different publishers have had at least one game on Game Pass. This of course includes all the self published indie titles but also all the major publishers out there. In the graph below you can see the top 15 publishers and how many titles they have had on Game Pass past or present.
So we can say there is already widespread support for Game Pass but there are still a lot of major publishers missing that have yet to publish a single title. Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard are some of the bigger ones, but major publishers like Rockstar and Ubisoft have only supported with a few games (GTA V, RDR 2 and The Division), so there is still work to be done. Of course this can have various reasons like said publishers having or planning its own subscription service like EA (Origin) and Ubisoft (Uplay+) or just plain not believing in the subscription model yet.
How many games have released Day 1 on Game Pass?
Likely one of the bigger reasons people might not yet believe in the subscription model is that you can't play games on day 1 of release. But there have been games releasing day 1 on Game Pass outside of Microsoft' own. In total 84 games have been playable since its launch with Game Pass, and you can view all of them in the spoiler below.
What are the best months for Xbox Game Pass?
I thought it would be interesting to see in what months we see the most new games come and most old games go. I've combined all the additions and deletions for all months and determined averages for all months to see what are the best and 'worst' months on the service. June seems to be the month with the most new games on average, likely because of the bigger E3 drops. May is the month with the most games deleted from Game Pass, which can be attributed to the higher June addition average, since most games tend to have a 12 month lifespan.
Games being removed......or not?
Another oddity I found when making the list was that there are multiple games that were set to be removed but ended up staying. Since Microsoft hasn't always been super clear about what games are being removed until only recently, digging into the past hasn't been easy. Currently there are 4 games in the Xbox Game Pass Library that were previously given a notion of being removed at the end of said month. However, checking the list again shows that these games are still available. Those games currently are Dead Island Definitive Edition, Guacamelee!, JetPac Refuelled and theHunter: Call of the Wild. There are also multiple games that were supposed to leave but ended up staying longer and were removed at a later time.
Why is this happening? Well we don't really know. The Xbox Game Pass App shows what games are leaving each month and that is probably driven by an algorithm or something like that that renews each month, so there could be errors in there. Another possibility is that publishers get another chance to renew or extend the games' stay on Game Pass, so it could be that some of them take advantage of this and some don't. Either way its good to know that even though a game is set to leave, there is always a slight possibilty it ends up staying longer.
Upcoming thresholds for possible removals
One advantage I discovered while making the master list is that I can now see what games are nearing a certain 'threshold'. As I have calculated above, roughly two thirds of all games are on Game Pass for at least 12 months, so we can make some well educated guesses on when games will be deleted. This way we can give gamers a bigger heads up than the usual two weeks Microsoft gives in the Game Pass app. I will keep the below list updated for the coming month as it changes so you can easily glance and see what games might be deleted soon.
Please bear in mind that this is in no way a certainty, as games might get deleted sooner than the date mentioned or might be extended or had longer contracts. It should only be used as a tool to give you more time to finish a certain game before it leaves the service.
Metro 2033 Redux (24 months on 10/01/2020)
Hello Neighbour (24 months on 10/22/2020)
Rise & Shine (24 months on 11/01/2020)
Sniper Elite 4 (24 months on 11/01/2020)
Marvel vs Capcom Infinite (18 months on 10/01/2020)
Monster Hunter World (18 months on 10/18/2020)
World War Z (12 months on 10/10/2020)
Fallout New Vegas (12 months on 10/17/2020)
Felix The Reaper (12 months on 10/17/2020)
Lonely Mountains: Downhill (12 months on 10/23/2020)
Secret Neighbor (12 months on 10/23/2020)
Minit (12 months on 10/24/2020)
The Outer Worlds (12 months on 10/25/2020)
Afterparty (12 months on 10/29/2020)
LEGO Star Wars III The Clone Wars (12 months on 10/31/2020)
The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game (12 months on 11/05/2020)
Subnautica (12 months on 11/07/2020)
Well that is it for now, hope you enjoy all this juicy data! In the future I will keep this thread up to date with all the new releases and removals and will add more in depth analysis when I can. If you see something that is incorrect or you have suggestions feel free to post them in a reply or DM me. If you would like to use this data for your website feel free to contact me via DM. For those that like these threads and the updates or my Xbox Sale threads you can follow me on Twitter as well @MauroNL3. I'll be tweeting these updates too as well as various Xbox related news and sales. Feel free to add me :)
After Microsoft took away my sweet supply of new Xbox Backwards Compatibility titles, my analysis thread was left in the dark. As the BC program is either cancelled or on hiatus until at least the end of this year my craving for a new analysis thread has grown. What better topic is there than Xbox Game Pass right now? After its inception about 3 years ago I thought it would be fun to see how the service has progressed from the start to where it is now. How many games did we get? What are some of the best supporters? What are the best months? These questions and loads more will be answered by the end of this post!
What is Xbox Game Pass?
For those unfamiliar with Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft describes it as "Xbox Game Pass has unlimited access to over 100 high-quality games—with titles added all the time. Whether you play console games, PC games, or both, there's a plan for you. Join Xbox Game Pass for one low monthly price and discover your next favorite game", but its also often described as the 'Netflix for games'. For more in-depth information you can view the official website or the OT right here on ERA. For this analysis I'm focussing solely on Xbox Game Pass For Console, since that is where it started and because the PC side is still in beta.
How Many Games Have Been On Xbox Game Pass?
Xbox Game Pass saw the light of day on June 1, 2017. Since it is a Netflix type subscription, games are added and removed all the time. So how many games have actually been on the service since launch? There currently is no list that covers all Game Pass games past and present, so I created a master list that includes all games that have come and gone since launch. This way we can determine the breakdown of total games, and what platforms.
Total Number of Games: 532
Xbox One: 419
Xbox 360: 109
Original Xbox: 4
How is the games library now compared to launch?
The succes of a service like Game Pass all depends on the content. The more content, the more appealing it is to subscribe to it. Game Pass launched with 114 games on June 1, 2017. So how has the service been developing over these past 40 or so months? Combining all the added and removed games we can see a healthy growth in terms of a baseline of games on GamePass. From about 150 games at the end of 2017 to nearly 250 games at the end of 2019, you can clearly see GamePass has been delivering more bang for buck over the last few years. These are the number of games on the service in said period, so that takes into account all games that were added and deleted in that period.
What is the average lifespan of a Game Pass game?
Game Pass being a subscription model means games usually don't stay on there forever. Outside of Microsoft' own titles, which do remain on there indefinitely, publishers can determine how long they want to have their game on the service. Now we still don't know anything about how revenue and profits for Game Pass are determined and shared between publishers, how much or if Microsoft 'pays' publishers to put their games on it, what periods publishers can choose from, all of these are still unknowns so all we can do is speculate or make educated guesses.
Having said that, I've gathered all the games that have come and also gone from Game Pass and rounded them up to see how the split is and what the averages are between titles. Now this only takes into account the games that have been added AND removed, so all the games that have been on there since launch are not accounted for as are all the new games that have yet to be removed. The graph below shows interesting results, as we can see that about 16.9% are on Game Pass for less than 12 months, 2.3% for 6 months or less. The vast majority of games, around 54%, are on Game Pass for at least 12 months. A sizeable chunk, roughly 16.9%, doubles that period and remains on Game Pass for over two years.
What is the platform split of new additions?
When Game Pass launched the split between Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles was still in favour of Xbox 360 titles. But what about all the new titles that have joined the service since? How many of those have been Xbox One and how many Xbox 360? Grouping this into 6 month periods its clear to see that Xbox One games have been the major focus of all the games that have joined since launch. In fact, Xbox 360 games have almost become non existent in terms of new additions, which to me is a sad development but was bound to happen since there have been no new backwards compatible titles.
Who are the best supporters of Xbox Game Pass?
For Microsoft to grow the number of games on the service it needs to entice publishers to support it. Microsoft are obviously frontrunners of their own service and have declared full support for it, even putting its own titles on the service right at launch. But what about all the other publishers out there? Who has been the most supportive since launch and who has been missing from it completely?
Checking the master list has determined that 155 different publishers have had at least one game on Game Pass. This of course includes all the self published indie titles but also all the major publishers out there. In the graph below you can see the top 15 publishers and how many titles they have had on Game Pass past or present.
So we can say there is already widespread support for Game Pass but there are still a lot of major publishers missing that have yet to publish a single title. Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard are some of the bigger ones, but major publishers like Rockstar and Ubisoft have only supported with a few games (GTA V, RDR 2 and The Division), so there is still work to be done. Of course this can have various reasons like said publishers having or planning its own subscription service like EA (Origin) and Ubisoft (Uplay+) or just plain not believing in the subscription model yet.
How many games have released Day 1 on Game Pass?
Likely one of the bigger reasons people might not yet believe in the subscription model is that you can't play games on day 1 of release. But there have been games releasing day 1 on Game Pass outside of Microsoft' own. In total 84 games have been playable since its launch with Game Pass, and you can view all of them in the spoiler below.
Absolver
Aftercharge
Afterparty
Ashen
Battletoads
Below
Bomber Crew
Blazing Chrome
Bleeding Edge
Carrion
Crackdown 3
Creature in the Well
CrossCode
Deliver Us The Moon
Demon's Tilt
Double Kick Heroes
Drake Hollow
Felix The Reaper
Forager
Forza Horizon 4
Gato Roboto
Gears 5
Golf With Friends
Graveyard Keeper
GRIP
Grounded
Hotshot Racing
Hypnospace Outlaw
It Lurks Below
Kingdom: Two Crowns
Laser League
Levelhead
Lonely Mountains: Downhill
Minecraft Dungeons
Moving Out
Munchkin: Quacked Quest
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
My Friend Pedro
Neon Abyss
New Super Lucky's Tale
Next Up Hero
Night Call
Nowhere Prophet
Observation
Operencia: The Stolen Sun
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Outer Wilds
Pathologic 2
Pikuniku
Pumped BMX Pro
Riverbond
Robocraft Infinity
Sea of Thieves
Secret Neighbor
Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
Slay The Spire
Spiritfarer
State of Decay 2
Streets of Rage 4
Supermarkt Shriek
Tell Me Why Episode 1
Tell Me Why Episode 2
Tell Me Why Episode 3
The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut
The Bard's Tale Trilogy
The Gardens Between
The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game
The Messenger
The Outer Worlds
The Touryst
Thief of Thieves
Touhou Luna Nights
Totally Reliable Delivery Service
Two Point Hospital
UnderMine
Untitled Goose Game
Wandersong
Warhammer Vermintide 2
Wasteland 3
Wasteland Remastered
West of Dead
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Aftercharge
Afterparty
Ashen
Battletoads
Below
Bomber Crew
Blazing Chrome
Bleeding Edge
Carrion
Crackdown 3
Creature in the Well
CrossCode
Deliver Us The Moon
Demon's Tilt
Double Kick Heroes
Drake Hollow
Felix The Reaper
Forager
Forza Horizon 4
Gato Roboto
Gears 5
Golf With Friends
Graveyard Keeper
GRIP
Grounded
Hotshot Racing
Hypnospace Outlaw
It Lurks Below
Kingdom: Two Crowns
Laser League
Levelhead
Lonely Mountains: Downhill
Minecraft Dungeons
Moving Out
Munchkin: Quacked Quest
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
My Friend Pedro
Neon Abyss
New Super Lucky's Tale
Next Up Hero
Night Call
Nowhere Prophet
Observation
Operencia: The Stolen Sun
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Outer Wilds
Pathologic 2
Pikuniku
Pumped BMX Pro
Riverbond
Robocraft Infinity
Sea of Thieves
Secret Neighbor
Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
Slay The Spire
Spiritfarer
State of Decay 2
Streets of Rage 4
Supermarkt Shriek
Tell Me Why Episode 1
Tell Me Why Episode 2
Tell Me Why Episode 3
The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut
The Bard's Tale Trilogy
The Gardens Between
The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game
The Messenger
The Outer Worlds
The Touryst
Thief of Thieves
Touhou Luna Nights
Totally Reliable Delivery Service
Two Point Hospital
UnderMine
Untitled Goose Game
Wandersong
Warhammer Vermintide 2
Wasteland 3
Wasteland Remastered
West of Dead
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
What are the best months for Xbox Game Pass?
I thought it would be interesting to see in what months we see the most new games come and most old games go. I've combined all the additions and deletions for all months and determined averages for all months to see what are the best and 'worst' months on the service. June seems to be the month with the most new games on average, likely because of the bigger E3 drops. May is the month with the most games deleted from Game Pass, which can be attributed to the higher June addition average, since most games tend to have a 12 month lifespan.
Games being removed......or not?
Another oddity I found when making the list was that there are multiple games that were set to be removed but ended up staying. Since Microsoft hasn't always been super clear about what games are being removed until only recently, digging into the past hasn't been easy. Currently there are 4 games in the Xbox Game Pass Library that were previously given a notion of being removed at the end of said month. However, checking the list again shows that these games are still available. Those games currently are Dead Island Definitive Edition, Guacamelee!, JetPac Refuelled and theHunter: Call of the Wild. There are also multiple games that were supposed to leave but ended up staying longer and were removed at a later time.
Why is this happening? Well we don't really know. The Xbox Game Pass App shows what games are leaving each month and that is probably driven by an algorithm or something like that that renews each month, so there could be errors in there. Another possibility is that publishers get another chance to renew or extend the games' stay on Game Pass, so it could be that some of them take advantage of this and some don't. Either way its good to know that even though a game is set to leave, there is always a slight possibilty it ends up staying longer.
Upcoming thresholds for possible removals
One advantage I discovered while making the master list is that I can now see what games are nearing a certain 'threshold'. As I have calculated above, roughly two thirds of all games are on Game Pass for at least 12 months, so we can make some well educated guesses on when games will be deleted. This way we can give gamers a bigger heads up than the usual two weeks Microsoft gives in the Game Pass app. I will keep the below list updated for the coming month as it changes so you can easily glance and see what games might be deleted soon.
Please bear in mind that this is in no way a certainty, as games might get deleted sooner than the date mentioned or might be extended or had longer contracts. It should only be used as a tool to give you more time to finish a certain game before it leaves the service.
Metro 2033 Redux (24 months on 10/01/2020)
Hello Neighbour (24 months on 10/22/2020)
Rise & Shine (24 months on 11/01/2020)
Sniper Elite 4 (24 months on 11/01/2020)
Marvel vs Capcom Infinite (18 months on 10/01/2020)
Monster Hunter World (18 months on 10/18/2020)
World War Z (12 months on 10/10/2020)
Fallout New Vegas (12 months on 10/17/2020)
Felix The Reaper (12 months on 10/17/2020)
Lonely Mountains: Downhill (12 months on 10/23/2020)
Secret Neighbor (12 months on 10/23/2020)
Minit (12 months on 10/24/2020)
The Outer Worlds (12 months on 10/25/2020)
Afterparty (12 months on 10/29/2020)
LEGO Star Wars III The Clone Wars (12 months on 10/31/2020)
The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game (12 months on 11/05/2020)
Subnautica (12 months on 11/07/2020)
Well that is it for now, hope you enjoy all this juicy data! In the future I will keep this thread up to date with all the new releases and removals and will add more in depth analysis when I can. If you see something that is incorrect or you have suggestions feel free to post them in a reply or DM me. If you would like to use this data for your website feel free to contact me via DM. For those that like these threads and the updates or my Xbox Sale threads you can follow me on Twitter as well @MauroNL3. I'll be tweeting these updates too as well as various Xbox related news and sales. Feel free to add me :)
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