Xbox Game Pass has 1 June rollout – except for SA

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the Xbox Game Pass service, delivering unlimited access to a slew of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games for US$9.99 a month. At the time of the announcement, an exact launch date wasn’t given, but we’ve finally got one now.

The company has confirmed that the service will be launching on 1 June 2017, having gone live yesterday (24 May) for a select few in the Insiders Programme.

“That means anyone with an Xbox Live account can start their 14-day free trial and play over 100 games,” read an entry by Microsoft’s Major Nelson.

Back at the initial announcement, Microsoft explained that new games would be added and removed each month. But what will gamers have to play come 1 June?

Xbox Game Pass will launch on 1 June — South Africans will need to wait longer though

Microsoft has detailed the full lineup, including Halo 5: Guardians, NBA 2K16, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition, Mad Max, OlliOlli, Pumped BMX+, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Sunset Overdrive and WWE 2K16.

Want backwards compatible goodness? Then Microsoft also has a slew of Xbox 360 games for you to play on your Xbox One, including the Gears of War franchise, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, the Bioshock trilogy, Comix Zone, Fable 3, the Joe Danger games, Kameo, Grid 2, Monday Night Combat, Spelunky, Soul Calibur, Viva Pinata and Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown.

Of course, Microsoft representatives already told us at the time of the initial launch that South Africa won’t be one of the launch markets for the service.

“Much like most new features added to Live, Game Pass will be implemented in select markets first before a wider rollout is announced. SA is not part of this initial rollout,” a representative said at the time.