I loathe the way Game Pass rotates games off of the service. Game Pass should be an ever-expanding collection of curated games that becomes more and more valuable over time, but instead the value of a subscription is in a constant state of flux as games are added and removed each month. The idea that someone could be enjoying a game that they paid for through their subscription fee only to have it unceremoniously disappear one day terrifies me. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I know eventually there will be a Game Pass game I invest in that leaves before I get a chance to finish it.
The fact that games can be removed from Game Pass forces me to operate as if every game eventually will. My favorite games to play on Game Pass are ones that I can finish in a few sittings, because I don’t have to worry about losing access to them if I take a break and come back weeks or months later. I buy multiplayer games like Darktide and Monster Hunter Rise on Steam even when they’re included with Game Pass, because I plan on playing them for years to come, and I have no idea when they’ll be cut from the Game Pass library.
I know there are reasons games can’t stay on Game Pass forever. Licensing agreements on music and other copyrighted material can expire, forcing Microsoft to pull games down. The publishers may also only want their games available for a certain amount of time for a variety of reasons, including making deals with other subscription services or negotiating with Microsoft if their game turns out to be a hit on Game Pass. It’s unrealistic to expect a Game Pass game to last forever, given how fickle and shortsighted the entire game industry is, but Microsoft could be doing a lot more to take the sting away for its subscribers.
Expiration dates should not be as mysterious as they are. At the start of each month we find out which games are leaving, and only have two weeks to play them before they vanish. To find these games, you have to scroll down the Game Pass menu about halfway and look for a ‘Leaving Soon’ category that blends in with all the other recommended categories. On Xbox and PC, you can see when they’re leaving, but on the mobile app the expiration dates are not listed at all.
From a player perspective, there’s no rhyme or reason for when and why games leave Game Pass. This month we’re losing seven games. Some, like Panzer Corps 2 and Life is Strange: True Colors, have been on Game Pass for a year, while others like Moonglow Bay and The Riftbreaker have been available for 18 months. Quantum Break is one of the games leaving in two weeks, and it’s been on Game Pass since 2018. Not only that, but it was an Xbox exclusive published by Microsoft. You just never know what games are going to leave or when it’s going to happen.
Microsoft ought to be a lot more transparent about how long these games will be available. Every game should have its expiration date listed on its store page, and when the clock ticks down to the last two weeks, they should be visibly featured on the front page, not buried down in a hidden category. If Game Pass was upfront about the time frames each game will be available, it wouldn’t feel so bad when they vanish.
While it’s true Game Pass adds more games than it takes away, if it only seems to get rid of games you like and add games you don’t, it can start to feel like the value of your subscription is going down. Microsoft doesn’t offer any kind of compensation for expired games other than the standard 20 percent discount you get on every game as a subscriber. Instead, it should start offering deep discounts during the final two weeks before a game leaves the service, both as a way to celebrate their time on Game Pass, and as a way to make it up to the player when they disappear. Giving a little more respect to expiring games and the Game Pass subscribers that love them would go a long way towards solving Game Pass’ biggest problem.