Xbox Game Pass April lineup leads off with a heavy hitter

By Billy Givens April 5, 2022

Microsoft has revealed its Xbox Game Pass lineup for April, and it includes some big games. The list includes some new day-and-date releases and 2021 hidden gems.

Perhaps most notable among this month’s offerings is MLB The Show 22, which is available beginning today, April 5. This yearly baseball sim is a Sony-developed and published title that has historically existed solely on PlayStation consoles, making it a bit surprising as a Day One addition to Microsoft’s subscription service. What this means for the future is uncertain, but it’s an interesting step in a new direction for Sony and Microsoft’s relationship.

Another massive title landing on the service in April is Life is Strange: True Colors, the latest sequel in Square-Enix’s narrative-based exploration franchise. Although it was a bit polarizing with critics overall, it was praised for eschewing the series’ typical staggered chapter release format in favor of a more cohesive experience, and it’s worth checking out for fans of emotionally-charged tales.

Here’s the full list of April’s Game Pass games.

Cricket 22 (Cloud/Console) – April 5
MLB The Show 22 (Cloud/Console) – April 5
Chinatown Detective Agency (Cloud/Console/PC) – April 7
Dragon Age 2 (Cloud via EA Play) – April 7
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (Cloud via EA Play) – April 7
Star Wars: Squadrons (Cloud via EA Play) – April 7
Life is Strange: True Colors (Cloud/Console/PC) – April 12
Panzer Corps 2 (PC) – April 12
The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (PC) – April 12
Lost in Random (Cloud/Console/PC via EA Play) – April 14

Unfortunately, every month also brings with it a few losses, and this one’s no different. Game Pass will be losing F1 2019, MLB The Show 21, Pathway, Rain on Your Parade, and The Long Dark throughout the month. If you’re wanting to check any of those out, you have until April 15 for all of them except F1 2019, which will exit the service on April 18.

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Billy Givens is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can be…

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PS Plus’ library is looking more like Game Pass’ in May lineup

Two cars race side-by-side in Grid Legends.

Sony revealed the next batch of three games that will be available throughout May 2023 as part of PlayStation Plus Essential. The lineup includes Grid Legends, Chivalry 2, and Descenders. All are very solid games in their respective genres, but interestingly, they are all also games that Xbox Game Pass subscribers will already have access to.
Grid Legends is the headlining game for this month, and it's a racing game from Codemasters where the standout feature is a story mode framed like a racing documentary with live-action interviews. While I had mixed feelings about the game and the mode when reviewing it last year, those looking for a basic but enjoyable racing game to tide them over until the next Forza Motorsport, Test Drive Unlimited, or The Crew can have some fun with it. If you're subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you're also able to play this game on that platform thanks to EA Play.

For those that are still in a sporty mood, Descenders is an enjoyable downhill biking game that'll scratch the same gaming itch as series like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or Lonely Mountains: Downhill. Then, there's Chivalry 2, a very intense multiplayer game set in medieval times, which gives it a very welcome change in setting compared to many of its multiplayer peers. Both games are currently playable if you have an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, but will likely leave the service at a later date.
If you are subscribed to both PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass, you will be fine skipping out on May's PS Plus Essential titles. If you only own a PlayStation console, though, or want to guarantee that you'll still have these games after they leave Xbox Game Pass, then definitely consider downloading them. These games will all be available with PS Plus from May 1 until June 6. Make sure you pick up April's PS Plus Essential games before May 1 as well.

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All cross-platform games (PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

Two squads of heroes clash in an Overwatch 2 trailer.

Cross-platform support is becoming more important in the world of video games. Multiplayer hits like Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Fortnite have pushed crossplay into the limelight, and now most AAA multiplayer games release with at least partial cross-platform support. Finding every cross-platform game is no easy feat, though, so we did the hard work to bring you a comprehensive list of games that support crossplay.

Unfortunately, there aren't any rules when it comes to crossplay, so each game handles the feature a little differently. To make matters more confusing, certain backward-compatible games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X still support crossplay on the most recent hardware, even if there isn't an official release for that hardware.

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You can’t share Xbox screenshots or videos directly to Twitter anymore

The Xbox Series S console on its side with controller.

It is no longer possible to upload and share screenshots and videos to Twitter from Xbox consoles or the Xbox Game Bar on PC. The move comes amid growing tensions between Microsoft and Twitter owner Elon Musk, who recently made a controversial change to the platform's API rules.
While Microsoft has not confirmed if this change is permanent, this disabling comes after Twitter rolled out new access tiers for its API, including an Enterprise tier that reportedly costs $42,000 a month. It seems that Microsoft has opted not to foot that bill, instead disabling Twitter's integration with Xbox on console and PC altogether.
Shortly after the feature was disabled, the official Xbox Twitter account posted a step-by-step process of how players could still get their Xbox screenshots and clips on Twitter by sharing them from the Captures menu in the Xbox mobile app. When asked by fans why the change occurred, all Microsoft would say is that "we've had to disable the ability to share game uploads directly to Twitter."
https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/1649198865961332737
So far, Xbox is the only console manufacturer to disable this feature, so we'll have to wait and see if Nintendo or PlayStation follow suit. Still, considering how common sharing screenshots and videos taken while playing a game has become on social media, it's a surprising change for Xbox to make.
If this is an intentional, permanent change, it also seems to indicate that Microsoft won't be playing ball with Elon Musk's Twitter changes. The two are currently in a social media war, as Microsoft will also be ending Twitter support on its advertising platform, while Musk teased that he might sue Microsoft. No longer being able to share screenshots or clips from one's Xbox to Twitter comes as a consequence of this feud.