Outriders Coming Immediately to Xbox Game Pass for Consoles Upon Release

The co-op shooter Outriders will be released directly on Xbox Game Pass on April 1. The game can then be played on consoles and via the cloud. The rapid arrival of the game to the subscription is striking, because new games usually go on sale first.

When Outriders releases on April 1, the game will be available for purchase for a suggested retail price of $70 on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X and S. However, the game will also be coming directly to Game Pass for consoles and GamePass Ultimate. This concerns the console version of the game, the game is not playable via the Game Pass PC subscription.

Game Pass contains many third-party games, but in the vast majority of cases these are games that have been available for a long time, so that the developer and publisher can earn money from the individual sales. So Microsoft has signed a deal with publisher Square Enix and developer People Can Fly to include Outriders directly in Game Pass. Details about that deal have not been disclosed. Games that Microsoft makes itself will all be available directly through Game Pass.

Making a game directly available via a subscription can also provide benefits for the publisher and developer of that game. In addition to the guaranteed income from the deal, it ensures a large group of players who get immediate access to the game. Potentially, this will immediately bring in millions of players, making the game popular. That in turn can lead to more sales on other platforms.

Outriders is a game from the Polish studio People Can Fly, which debuted with the shooter Painkiller in 2004. After that, the studio collaborated on several Gears of War games. Outriders is a looter shooter with a third person perspective. The game can be played alone or in co-op by up to three players. A demo has been available for consoles and PC since the end of February.