Monthly round-up: 10 titles added to Xbox Game Pass on day one

From April 2022 to May 2022, 139 games were added to the services tracked (up from 100 last month) and 127 were removed (up from 81 last month), raising the overall number of titles in Ampere’s tracked games content subscription service to 4,788.

The main games subscription catalogue changes in May 2022 are as follows:

• Xbox Game Pass (XGP) Ultimate (across XGP console and PC, and EA Play) was the most active service for added titles in May 2022. Of the 27 titles added, six were Action Adventure games, three of which were from the Ninja Gaiden franchise. The developer of the franchise, Team Ninja, revealed a new Action Adventure title at the recent Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (Koei Tecmo). The title is scheduled to arrive on XGP on launch day. Therefore, the development team may have added catalogue titles to the service to familiarise a wider audience with Team Ninja’s style of gameplay and brand.
• 10 games were added to XGP via console and PC (and therefore Ultimate) on ‘day one,’ up from four the month prior. All the titles were from third-party publishers and notable additions include Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (505 Games), Pac-Man Museum+ (Bandai Namco), Sniper Elite 5 (Rebellion), and Hardspace (Focus Entertainment). The number of titles added in May 2022 matched the current peak ‘day one’ releases in one month, with August and September 2021 also adding 10 titles. One of the titles added, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, is described as a companion game to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (505 Games), a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) that is forecast to release on day one in 2023. Launching the companion game on XGP will help grow the franchise’s fanbase before the launch of the main title next year.
• At 53 titles, PlayStation Now was the most active service for removing titles in May 2022. With Sony’s updated PlayStation Plus service rolling out from late May on a regional basis, it is not surprising that it is purging content. Of the titles removed, 30 were published by Sega, indicating that the companies have strategically diverged in terms of keeping all those games in the new PlayStation Plus service. However, in the same month, four titles published by Sega remained on the service.
• Eleven of the Sega titles removed from PlayStation Now belong to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Sonic Origins (Sega), a compilation of early Sonic games, is scheduled to release in June 2022 and the publisher recently announced its intent to de-list the standalone games included in the bundle from digital storefronts. One of these, Sonic CD, was in PlayStation Now. As for the other titles, the publisher may have removed them to generate full-game sales in the run-up to the next franchise instalment (Sonic Frontiers, holiday 2022) or to release them on other services later.

Ubisoft+ reveals intent to launch on PlayStation and debuts ‘Classics’ bundle

In mid-May 2022, Ubisoft announced that its games content subscription service, Ubisoft+, will be launching on PlayStation consoles in the future. In addition to the primary service, the publisher revealed Ubisoft+ Classics, a new subscription that will be bundled into PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium. The rollout will coincide with the launch of Sony’s revamped subscription services, starting on 24 May 2022. The new service will offer 27 titles at launch, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 4, and Watch Dogs, but the selection is forecast to grow to 50 by the end of 2022. The new PlayStation Plus is a response to XGP, and Ubisoft+ Classics can be compared to the EA Play bundle included in Microsoft’s service but for PlayStation gamers. Integrating flagship third-party games adds value to the service, allowing the company to compete more effectively with its largest competitor in the subscription space. Alongside increased competitiveness, the bundle may aid in scaling the service and boosting retention.

In January 2022, the publisher outlined its plans to bring Ubisoft+ to Xbox in the future and reiterated this in the update posted in May 2022. However, the service is yet to announce any plans to bring a ‘Ubisoft+ Classics’ like tier to Xbox consoles or Game Pass. Whether the bundle is an exclusive offering on PlayStation Plus remains to be seen, but this may be the case given Sony’s need for a competitive advantage.

Xbox Cloud Gaming brings Fortnite back to iOS for free

In partnership with publisher Epic Games, Xbox launched Fortnite on browser-enabled devices using Xbox Cloud Gaming in May 2022. Users do not need an XGP or Xbox Live Gold subscription to use the feature; it is available to anyone with a Microsoft account (free to create) and an Internet connection. Fortnite streaming is available across 26 countries and supports a range of devices, including iOS, iPadOS, Android phones, Android tablets, and Windows PC. Availability on Apple devices is significant as Fortnite was removed from the Apple App Store in August 2020 and is unlikely to make a return following a lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games.

The partnership is mutually beneficial: Epic Games regains access to its consumer base, and therefore at least some of its revenue that originated from Apple devices which, according to Sensor Tower, accounted for around 65% of all Fortnite in-app purchases globally in H1 2020. It also expands the title’s potential audience to those with limited storage space or low-spec devices. Meanwhile, Microsoft will see a slew of new users entering the ecosystem and creating Microsoft accounts. In fact, Microsoft stated that 20% of users playing Fortnite on Xbox Cloud Gaming were new to the Xbox ecosystem. This will increase users’ exposure to the Xbox brand and promote the company’s cloud gaming capabilities, potentially converting mobile-first gamers into XGP subscribers.