The megamerger of Bethesda and Xbox is official as of this week, which means plenty of things for Xbox players in the long term. The minds behind the entire Fallout franchise are now under one roof. Doomguy and Master Chief could join in an epic crossover. Bethesda could tap into Microsoft's tech for their gigantic open world games. The potential is seemingly endless, and the changes start this week with a good chunk of Bethesda's past work joining Xbox Game Pass.
Starting March 12, 2021 Xbox Game Pass subscribers can dive into Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, and more. The vast majority of these offerings are playable on Xbox consoles, PC, and via the cloud with mobile streaming. Many of these games will also join Xbox Game Pass for the first time, and Xbox has already made it clear that future releases in all Bethesda franchises will hit Xbox Game Pass just like Xbox's first-party lineup.
Of course, some games will not make the jump to the Xbox ecosystem for various reasons. Bethesda's VR offerings like Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot and DOOM: VFR won't support Xbox Game Pass even on PC, likely due to Xbox's lack of a virtual reality solution. Notable Bethesda games Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Doom (2016) are also off the list for unknown reasons. Fallout 3 is also not on the list despite its playability on Xbox Series X, and Fallout: New Vegas remains solely a console entry.
All Xbox Game Pass Bethesda Additions
It's also worth noting that several of the games Xbox list aren't new additions, although many games are coming to new platforms even if they've been on the service for a long while. Games like Prey return to Xbox Game Pass after leaving the service in the past, while Fallout: New Vegas and Doom Eternal are available now. This won't matter in 24 hours though, so here's a full listing of what will be available after tomorrow's big drop.
- Dishonored Definitive Edition (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Dishonored 2 (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Doom (1993) (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Doom II (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Doom 3 (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Doom 64 (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Doom Eternal (Console, PC, Cloud)
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Console, PC)
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Console, PC)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (Console, PC, Cloud)
- The Elder Scrolls Online (Cloud, Console)
- The Evil Within (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Fallout 4 (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Fallout 76 (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Fallout: New Vegas (Console)
- Prey (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Rage 2 (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Wolfenstein: The New Order (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (Console, PC, Cloud)
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood (Console, PC, Cloud)
During today's roundtable stream, Bethesda and Xbox promised announcements coming during the typical summer timeframe. The future for the entire Xbox Game Studios family is wide open, and there are exciting announcements to come in the years ahead. On top of everything Bethesda has in the works, fans are looking forward to a new Perfect Dark, Obsidian's Avowed, and Halo Infinite this holiday, just to name a few. For those who keep up their Xbox Game Pass subscription, there's no barrier to entry for any of these games, and that's exactly what Xbox is planning on.