Summary
The popular subscription service has on average added 14.5 new games each month since the turn of the year. This release pace slowed down quite considerably in the first half of May; following theXbox Game Pass debut ofBrothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the platform’s monthly release tally sits at just four titles as of May 14.
Microsoft is now once again ready to shift into a higher gear, with its May 2024 Wave 2 lineup announcement confirming thatXbox Game Pass will be bringing out the big gunsbefore month’s end. Specifically, the second wave of this month’s arrivals spans nine games, five of which are newly confirmed. Those are, in order of their planned releases:Chants of Sennaar,EA Sports NHL 24,Immortals of Aveum,Moving Out 2, andLords of the Fallen.
✅
Returning title that was last available in January 2020
Day-one release
🆕Chants of Sennaar
🆕EA Sports NHL 24
✅ (since April 2024)
❌
Ultimate tier only
🆕Immortals of Aveum
PC Game Pass and Ultimate tiers only
🆕Lords of the Fallen
EA Sports' ice hockey sim is technically not an entirely new addition to the service, but a conclusion to its staggered release; its console versions have already beenavailable to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members since April 2024, with Microsoft now planning to follow up on that launch with an Xbox Cloud Gaming version of the game. StreamingEA Sports NHL 24will be the only way to experience it without a console, as the sports franchise has been skipping PC sinceNHL 09, which was released in late 2008.
The rest of Microsoft’s Wave 2 lineup features three day-one releases, all of which have been confirmed to be coming to the service ahead of today’s announcement. Two of those,GalacticareandHauntii, are scheduled to reach Xbox Game Pass on May 23. The third one isSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, a narrative-driven action adventure made by Microsoft subsidiary Ninja Theory, which is coming on May 21.
Not accounting forNHL 24’s staggered release, this month’s Xbox Game Pass lineup currently includes 12 confirmed titles. May 2024 is hence shaping up to be the platform’s quietest month of the year so far, release-wise. Whether that actually ends up being the case remains to be seen, not least because Microsoft’s track record clearly indicates thatsurprise Xbox Game Pass releasesare always a possibility. Looking beyond this month,Fireworkand day-one gameRolling Hillsare already confirmed to be arriving on the service on June 4.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft’s flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you may play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.
