As a host of announcements, gameplay demos, and trailers, flood the internet during Summer Game Fest 2022, one group can be sure that they've won above all others: subscribers to Xbox's Game Pass. During the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, over 30 titles were covered in a variety of different presentations. The one thing that they all had in common, though, was that they will be playable on Game Pass within the next 12 months.
In recent years, Game Pass has become gaming's best deal, offering a vast catalog of titles, all free to play with a subscription. With the service's highest tier, Game Pass Ultimate, priced at $14.99 a month, players are essentially paying for less than three AAA games a year in exchange for access to over 400 titles. Now, Xbox and Bethesda's showcase has provided fans with looks at a whole suite of games soon to be added to the list.
Game Pass' name was a constant throughout the showcase, whether Xbox and Bethesda were announcing existing titles coming to Xbox consoles and the Game Pass service, or showing off upcoming games that will be available on Game Pass from day one. The showcase was kicked off with gameplay of Arkane's co-op vampire shooter Redfall, featured new expansions for Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls Online, and concluded with an extended look at the highly anticipated sci-fi RPG Starfield. All of these titles came under the Microsoft umbrella with Xbox's acquisition of Zenimax and its game studios, and they will undoubtedly be powerful products for Game Pass to offer.
Summer Game Fest 2022 - Xbox Game Pass Just Keeps Getting Better
Blizzard franchises were also given their share of the spotlight, with cinematics and gameplay for not only Overwatch 2, but Diablo IV as well. The former game's multiplayer is set to be released in early access - free to play - on October 4. The latter, meanwhile, was a surprising inclusion; since all titles in the showcase will supposedly be playable within a year's time, that means Diablo IV must be farther along in its development than many might have assumed. Now, both of these long-awaited sequels will be making their way to Game Pass on day one, thanks to the fact that Xbox's parent company Microsoft now owns Activision Blizzard.
The showcase wasn't all blockbusters, though, as Xbox gave fans peeks at games like Annapurna Interactive's Cocoon, As Dusk Falls from INTERIOR/NIGHT, and Baby Robot Games' debut title, Ereban: Shadow Legacy. Despite its name, the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase boasted far more variety than previous presentations in the Summer Game Fest did - more specifically the conference hosted on Thursday - thanks to the array of developers partnering with Xbox. In fact, one of the showcase's indie titles was potentially more anticipated than some of the hyped projects being shown off by Bethesda, even with Starfield present. The announcement that Team Cherry's Hollow Knight: Silksong arrives on Xbox Game Pass day one - as well as new gameplay - was a highlight of the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. After going so long without any substantial news on the game's development, fans of the first Hollow Knight are bound to be ecstatic.
All of the games discussed above and many more will be added to the Game Pass catalog within the next year, providing a consistent supply of heavy hitters to the service's already-formidable lineup. If this presentation proved anything, it's that Xbox is committed to Game Pass and that it is putting its expensive acquisitions to good use. Recently, some competition has begun to rear its head in the form of Sony's new PlayStation Plus service, but Game Pass has a several-year head start. If the significant slate of games present at Summer Game Fest 2022 is any indication, Game Pass subscribers will have enough content for years to come.