It hasn’t even been a week since Microsoft officially acquired ZeniMax Media. Already, they’d made use of this by adding some 20 Bethesda titles to Xbox Game Pass. In addition to this, they’ve confirmed that some Bethesda titles could be exclusive to the Xbox One and/or Xbox Series S/X (as well as the PC) going forward. With that said, one rumor suggests that Microsoft could be making headlines yet again.
Outriders Reportedly Making Its Way to Xbox Game Pass
— Xbox Game Pass (@XboxGamePass) March 12, 2021 People Can Fly can fly no higher (pun intended) than they already are right now. They haven’t even released Outriders yet, and even though it was delayed from its original launch date, their decision to make a fully playable demo available to anyone on all major platforms for free seems to be paying off quite well. However, with its full release eminent, this means that players will have to pay the full sticker price to play the game. If the recent rumors are to be believed though, this isn’t necessarily the case. In particular, for those who have an active Xbox Game Pass subscription. This fake email sent by Melissa McGamepass is an obvious tease and many believe that it’s alluding to Outriders. This is especially because the words “mysterious signal” and “anomaly” were used specifically and on purpose.
Learn more about #Outriders at: https://t.co/qGLzBXCdlx pic.twitter.com/QAEasEHfUZ — Square Enix (@SquareEnix) May 14, 2020 Sure, we could be grasping at straws here. After all, Outriders isn’t the only game that has mysterious signals and anomalies. It’s pretty much a staple at this point. However, there are no sci-fi games outside of Outriders that are scheduled to release anytime within the next few weeks that use both words prominently. For example, Square Enix describes the premise of the game as players taking control of a “god-like being” on the hunt for the “source of a mysterious signal” in the planet Enoch. Not only that, but the anomaly is literally the word used to describe the storm that occurred in the alien planet, as well as the playable characters.
Is Making Outriders Available on the Xbox Game Pass the Right Move?
While this is definitely surprising, it’s not exactly impossible. After all, even though Square Enix is usually best buds with Sony, it is possible that they went with Microsoft this time around. This is especially considering that they’ve done a similar deal previously with another looter-shooter. In the past, Bungie’s Destiny 2 was made available on the Xbox Game Pass along with its new expansion. Of course, this isn’t proven just yet. Neither Microsoft nor Square Enix nor People Can Fly have confirmed this. However, it seems to be one hell of a coincidence for Microsoft to use the exact phrasing. After all, there’s only a couple of weeks before Outriders’ official release on April 1. Now, if this is indeed true, then we don’t really see any problem with it. It’s not like they’re the only ones doing it. Sony, for example, has made numerous titles available for free on PlayStation Plus subscribers. This includes, among others, Oddworld: Storm and Bugsnax. However, one potential problem for this is that there is no cross-save support for Outriders at the moment. So, if you’ve been playing Outriders on your PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, then your current progress won’t carry over if you switched on over to play the game on your Xbox One or Xbox Series S/X console. Considering Outriders is expected to release on April 1, we should expect an official announcement coming from either Microsoft or Square Enix soon.
