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Xbox has revealed the first wave of games coming to Game Pass in December which includes several new releases. It also includes LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which spent most of the year at the top of the sales charts (at least in the US) alongside game of the year nominee Elden Ring. While it’s not the last update the streaming service gets for the month, it’s still a packed offering.
The first games that released on Game Pass this week are Eastward, an indie adventure game, TellTale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season; and mayhem simulator Totally Reliable Delivery Service (all available December 1). The aforementioned LEGO Star Wars game launches the following week (Dec 6), along with Metal: Hellsinger on Xbox One (Dec 8). The third week, alchemist crafting game Potion Craft launches (Dec 13), as does puzzle-platformer Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan (Dec 15).
As usual, some new releases are launching on Game Pass. For this part of the month, the new releases include survival horror title Hello Neighbor 2 (Dec 6), sequel to the indie cult hit. We’re also getting JRPG Chained Echoes (Dec 8) followed by Justin Roiland’s comedy action title High on Life (Dec 13). Originally, Xbox said it would include Hot Wheels Unleashed in its December lineup, but it has since said the game won’t be added to Game Pass at this time.
Just as with its ostensible rival, PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass has become a talking point in the legal kerfuffle between Sony and Microsoft over the latter’s planned acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. One of Sony’s primary concerns seems to be that Microsoft will put Activision’s popular Call of Duty titles on Game Pass at launch, undercutting potential full-price sales for Sony’s PlayStation and elsewhere.
It’s not the only one with such concerns about Game Pass — Striking Distance Studios CTO Mark James said in a recent interview that the company’s recently launched horror game, The Callisto Protocol, would not be on Game Pass. He said that, financially, “It’s a difficult [model] to make work as an independent studio.”
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Author: Rachel Kaser
Source: Venturebeat
