Microsoft revealed the games coming to and leaving Xbox Game Pass this month, and there’s an odd imbalance. Only three new games are announced to be coming to the service throughout the rest of January. Still, we will lose six games on January 15, including last year’s indie hidden gem Nobody Saves the World and We Happy Few, a title from first-party Xbox studio Compulsion Games.
As for what’s coming to Xbox Game Pass throughout the rest of January, we have three highly anticipated Xbox ports that are day-one launches on the subscription service. Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will come to the service on January 19, while Monster Hunter Rise will be added on January 20. All three games will be available across the cloud, console, and PC versions of the service. Meanwhile, the what’s leaving on January 15 list is double the length of what’s being added:
- We Happy Few
- Nobody Saves the World
- Windjammers 2
- The Anacrusis
- Pupperazzi
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
More games will likely leave the service on January 31 as well. So, what caused this somewhat weird month for Xbox Game Pass? Of course, it’s the start of the year, so fewer new games are releasing, and those that get added too early won’t get that much attention during the post-holiday haze. Admittedly, the three games coming in January are all fantastic, so Microsoft might have trimmed the fat to let these three amazing games shine.
If rumors of an Xbox showcase later this month are also true, then it’s possible that this is only the first wave of additions and that there are more games coming that Microsoft doesn’t want to spoil yet. The Xbox Wire post with this announcement does say, “we’re just getting warmed up and we’ll be back soon with more games, more Perks, and more news,” after all. January 2023 is looking like one of Xbox Game Pass’s quietest months in a while. Hopefully, Microsoft can do something to change that before the month is over.
