Xbox Game Pass Has 8 Day One Games So Far in 2026 (Only 1 of Them Is Good)

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So far in 2026, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has released eight games on the day they launched, but only one has been truly great. Most of the games have been just okay, and a few haven’t lived up to expectations. This is especially frustrating because Microsoft recently increased the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $20 to $30 a month, and the quality of games hasn’t improved enough to justify that higher price.

So far this year, eight games have been added to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on their release day. Half of these games have received scores on Metacritic, while the other half haven’t. Generally, games without Metacritic scores aren’t major releases, and the fact that half the Game Pass lineup falls into this category isn’t ideal. Of the games that do have scores, the average is 74.5. Scores range from 68 to 83, with 72 and 75 being decent, but not particularly exciting. The 68 score is a bit on the low side. This means only one game, MIO: Memories in Orbit, has received a strong review – it’s currently the 11th highest-rated release of the year.

A Slow Period for Xbox Game Pass

It’s typical for January to be a quiet month for new game releases, and things are only just starting to pick up now. Considering that, a success rate of 1 in 8 isn’t entirely surprising. However, March doesn’t look much better, with few new games expected to be added to Xbox Game Pass on the day of their release.

Microsoft has been consistently adding popular games to Xbox Game Pass, like Death Stranding and The Witcher 3, with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 coming soon. However, the biggest draw of Game Pass Ultimate is access to new games on the day they’re released. This is a key difference between it and PlayStation Plus, which rarely offers day-one access. This benefit is why many Xbox fans are happy to pay the $30 monthly fee. Currently, though, the new day-one games haven’t been very impressive, and the next month doesn’t look much better. With a quarter of the year already gone, this is becoming a concern.

Xbox Game Pass Misses

Microsoft could have strengthened its initial game lineup this year by purchasing titles like Dragon Quest VII Reimagined and Reanimal. However, the main issue for Xbox in 2026 has been that many of the most popular games haven’t been released on Xbox consoles at all. In fact, five out of the six highest-rated games this year are unavailable on Xbox.

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2026-02-22 15:40