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What is going on with Game Pass?

Shoot

Shoot

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,548
Twice a month Microsoft makes a Game Pass post on Xbox Wire with the coming soon and leaving soon lists of games. They've typically done this on the first and third Tuesdays of each month since Game Pass launched in 2018. So it's pretty notable that Microsoft has just missed two Game Pass drops in a row (Dec. 13 and Jan. 3) with no communication and no one knows why. This is the last drop of new games we got.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/12/01/game-pass-december-2022-wave-1-announce/
So while no new games have been coming for the last 2 weeks and counting games are still leaving on schedule (visible on the Xbox/Game Pass app). Just what the heck is going on?

Bonus:

View: https://twitter.com/XboxSupport/status/1610396339602432000?s=20&t=-KUVlGp6nj9HRf_3LAboQQ
 
ragolliangatan

ragolliangatan

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Aug 31, 2019
4,479
Holiday season maybe, I expect to hear something in the next 10 days.

It's not as if there are a lack of games on the service
 
Gavalanche

Gavalanche

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 21, 2021
17,480
You did get new games. Stranded Deep and Mortal Shell. There's one of three options really:

Get the drop in roughly 9 hours

They are waiting for the rumoured Xbox event to drop a bunch of big games. For all we know it could early next week.

Or the two that came us actually just it.

It's the holidays, they are probably allowed to be a bit slow :p
 

cecilpaladin32

Member
Apr 24, 2018
3,608
Tbh, I'd be more excited with an upfront announcement of new games staying on the service for 18 or 24 months (or more), as opposed to most games leaving after 1 year with no notice until the month they are leaving. There's already too many games to play.
 
Ser Ignatius

Ser Ignatius

Chicken Chaser
Member
Apr 15, 2020
473
I urge patience. Lots of teams probably just got back to work yesterday after the holidays.
 
theAllseeingEYE

theAllseeingEYE

Member
Apr 4, 2018
4,513
Vancouver, BC
I mean, they've released a ton of games over the holidays, they just released Stranded Deep, and a mortal Shell is coming out tomorrow. Never mind that everyone quite literally got off vacation yesterday.

I don't see anything to be alarmed about. I could be wrong, but if feels like MS periodically changes up Game Pass communication patterns. I am sure we'll here news about January soon, and if that early 2023 conference is real, hopefully they've lined up some cool announcements for that too.

Did they commit to announcing games at set dates, even over the holidays?
 
Jerm

Jerm

The Fallen
Oct 31, 2017
5,775
I was thinking the same thing but also trying to be patient. Maybe they're saving some stuff for an event. The paranoid side of me is like "ah, I buy three years so they're finally cutting back on Game Pass releases after years."
 
Heraldic

Heraldic

Prophet of Regret
The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
1,633
Gavalanche said:
You did get new games. Stranded Deep and Mortal Shell. There's one of three options really:

Get the drop in roughly 9 hours

They are waiting for the rumoured Xbox event to drop a bunch of big games. For all we know it could early next week.

Or the two that came us actually just it.

It's the holidays, they are probably allowed to be a bit slow :p
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Solid post.
 
Tigerfish419

Tigerfish419

Member
Oct 28, 2021
4,518
I agree with OP just look at how many games there are confirmed day 1 launches, what the heck. (on a serious note, we're 5 days into the month in the new year maybe pump the brakes before assuming there's not drop, not only that but the Dec skip was them being on break as they said)

Fi-A9jIXoAQA4WP
 
Lui

Lui

Member
Sep 22, 2022
1,998
Best case scenario: They are waiting for the rumored xbox showcase to show this months gamepass drop

Worst case scenario: Microsoft decided to cut back on gamepass spending because it was unsustainable

/j, we also have persona 3 and 4 and MH rise coming later this month
 
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OP
OP
Shoot

Shoot

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,548
Game Pass has existed since 2018 and has never taken a "holiday" until now (delayed weeks, yes. But never straight skipping). I just find this and the silence very strange.
 
Gavalanche

Gavalanche

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 21, 2021
17,480
Shoot said:
Game Pass has existed since 2018 and has never taken a "holiday" until now (delayed weeks, yes. But never straight skipping). I just find this and the silence very strange.
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They didn't skip, two new games came out. Is there a specified number of games that it needs to be? I know it is normally 6 or so but maybe this time it was just 2.
 
vixolus

vixolus

Prophet of Truth
Member
Sep 22, 2020
54,507
The head of game pass communications verbatim said it's due to people getting back in from the holidays and there will be a return to normal programming soon.
 
DoradoWinston

DoradoWinston

Member
Apr 9, 2019
6,130
an example of something completely normal and with an expected answer but the quest to find hidden meaning drives the person into some weird rabbit hole lmao
 
Dolce

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,252
cecilpaladin32 said:
Tbh, I'd be more excited with an upfront announcement of new games staying on the service for 18 or 24 months (or more), as opposed to most games leaving after 1 year with no notice until the month they are leaving. There's already too many games to play.
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I wonder if that's a conscious choice so that new GamePass games aren't ignored to play more older things leaving.
 
T0kenAussie

T0kenAussie

Member
Jan 15, 2020
5,100
First people were jonesing for e3 conferences

Then directs

Then showcases

Now gamepass news wires

At some point we just gotta let the marketing guys take a rest imo
 
Celestial Descend

Celestial Descend

Member
Aug 15, 2022
3,275
I was thinking about this recently. How many people actually care about old games introduced into game pass compared to day one game pass games? Maybe MS realize new releases are the real attraction and decide to save money on old games? I wouldn't be surprised. Personally I mainly use game pass for MS first party games and new indies, so it won't bother me much.
 
Twister

Twister

Member
Feb 11, 2019
5,081
Tigerfish419 said:
I agree with OP just look at how many games there are confirmed day 1 launches, what the heck. (on a serious note, we're 5 days into the month in the new year maybe pump the brakes before assuming there's not drop, not only that but the Dec skip was them being on break as they said)

Fi-A9jIXoAQA4WP
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Oh damn I completely forgot Ghostwire Tokyo was coming to Game Pass - I never finished it on PS5 but I think the VRR is gonna make for a much better experience now that I have a capable TV
 
Lampa

Lampa

Member
Feb 13, 2018
3,586
While it was the new year as some people pointed out, I think this is the first time they missed mid-month announcement before the holidays, and start of the month after new years, which probably indicates they will make an announcement at some bigger occasion, than a Twitter and a blog post. And as also pointed out, they added Stranded Deep two days ago, so it does not seem they are taking a break from it.
 
Ausroachman

Ausroachman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,394
What happened with the Hot Wheels drop ? I seem to remember them announcing it as coming ,and i think it was even released for a day or 2 then dropped. Was there some news missed as to why it no longer appeared ?
 
Lampa

Lampa

Member
Feb 13, 2018
3,586
Ausroachman said:
What happened with the Hot Wheels drop ? I seem to remember them announcing it as coming ,and i think it was even released for a day or 2 then dropped. Was there some news missed as to why it no longer appeared ?
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Some issue, I don't think they specified. It's just 'coming soon' now, this happened around the time they make mid-month announcements, and since that was skipped, we don't know any more.
 
Firmus_Anguis

Firmus_Anguis

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,119
Tigerfish419 said:
I agree with OP just look at how many games there are confirmed day 1 launches, what the heck. (on a serious note, we're 5 days into the month in the new year maybe pump the brakes before assuming there's not drop, not only that but the Dec skip was them being on break as they said)

Fi-A9jIXoAQA4WP
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Now that's a solid goddamn list!

I've considered buying a lot of these games. Heck, if Replaced is good enough, I might just buy it eventually, it looks amazing.
 
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ThereAreFourNaan

ThereAreFourNaan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
13,110
Dolce said:
I wonder if that's a conscious choice so that new GamePass games aren't ignored to play more older things leaving.
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That might be part of it. Another might be that they don't want to disincentivize people from joining when they scroll through and see a bunch of stuff leaving in 2,3,4 months that they were interested in. Another might be to keep things like them negotiating extensions on successful games opaque.

I can't think of any similar services (whether in gaming or tv) that is fully transparent about this, so there must be some kind of business reason they all like to keep it secret.
 
Dolce

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,252
ThereAreFourNaan said:
That might be part of it. Another might be that they don't want to disincentivize people from joining when they scroll through and see a bunch of stuff leaving in 2,3,4 months that they were interested in. Another might be to keep things like them negotiating extensions on successful games opaque.

I can't think of any similar services (whether in gaming or tv) that is fully transparent about this, so there must be some kind of business reason they all like to keep it secret.
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I can only be so mad, because it does help the people putting their stuff up get attention. Human psychology, business and enjoyment are a messy combo.
 
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