Xbox Games Pass gets Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 boost with E3 announcements

Pirates of the Caribbean is heading to consoles as part of a Sea of Thieves original adventure.
Big name games are making their way to Xbox Games Pass this year. Photo credit: Supplied

Microsoft announced last week it was "all-in on gaming" and further demonstrated on Monday at the E3 expo with a massive boost to its Xbox Game Pass service.

As part of its overall strategy, the company is working with manufacturers to embed the gaming experience into televisions and also signalled its subscription offering would also be a big part of its future.

One of the keys to that is Bethesda, the game publisher bought by Microsoft for US$7.5 billion last year as part of it's purchase of ZeniMax Media.

During the Xbox and Bethesda games showcase 30 games were previewed, with 27 of those heading to Xbox Games Pass.

"Our growing family of 23 studios is devoted to advancing the medium we all love," Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox said.

"Now through the end of the year, you can look forward to back-to-back monthly releases landing day one on Game Pass, led by new titles from Xbox Game Studios."

The games making their way to Xbox Games Pass includes:

  • Halo Infinite which will launch sometimes towards the Christmas holidays
  • Woodstock, launching on November 9
  • Age of Empires IV, the follow-up to the PC strategy games, launching October 28
  • Psychonauts 2, a follow-up to the 2005 cult classic, launching August 25 and
  • Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life, an original adventure that brings Pirates of the Caribbean into Sea of Thieves that launches on June 22

Other games making their subscription debut this year include Forza Horizon 5, which will have DirectX raytracing on both next generation consoles, Flight Simulator, which launched on PC earlier this year and the heralded multi-player Among Us.

Xbox also announced that Starfield, a new space-based role-playing game from Bethesda and Redfall, a co-op shooter from Arkane Austin, will be available on Xbox consoles and PCs only.