Rumor: Xbox Game Pass to Add a Major Third-Party First-Person Shooter This Fall

Recently, Xbox has been making some big moves with Xbox Game Pass like bringing third-party titles like Outriders and MLB The Show 21 to the subscription service on their first day of release. While this is something that the company has done for quite some time with its own first-party titles, the new emphasis on major, AAA third-party games is something we haven’t seen much of from the company historically. Interestingly, it sounds like Xbox‘s trend of adding these major third-party titles to Game Pass is something that will be continuing throughout the year if a new rumor ends up being true.

In a new episode of The XboxEra Podcast, host Nick “Shpeshal Ed” Baker revealed that he has heard Xbox Game Pass will have another major third-party addition on its first day of release later in 2021. While he didn’t disclose what this game could be, Baker said that the game is specifically going to be in the first-person shooter genre. “There’s a certain third-party, AAA first-person shooter that is highly likely to be launching in Game Pass this fall,” Baker said on the podcast. Additional details by Baker weren’t given as he indicated that he was only able to share so much based on what his source told him he could reveal.

Obviously, when you think of first-person shooter franchises that are massive, two immediately come to mind — Call of Duty and Battlefield. With new entries in both series coming about later this year, it stands to reason that one of the two could end up coming to Xbox Game Pass. However, Battlefield 6 seems much more likely to be the title in question that would arrive on the platform.

The main reason for this belief comes with how Electronic Arts has already added its EA Play service to Xbox Game Pass. This collaboration between Xbox and EA shows that both publishers are willing to play ball with one another when it comes to making big moves of this nature. Battlefield is also far more likely to hit the service because the notion of Call of Duty coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one just seems like a bad value proposition for Activision. The annualized shooter franchise is almost always the top-selling video game of the year. So unless Microsoft is really shelling out a lot of money to have 2021’s Call of Duty hit Game Pass at launch, the need for Activision to put the game on the platform just doesn’t seem to be there.

Then again, there are some other first-person shooters that could be releasing later this year. Of the ones that we currently know about, Turtle Rock’s Back 4 Blood is one of the more notable arrivals. There are other titles that we might not even know about that could be dropping later this fall, too.

As a whole, it will take months for us to know if this rumor will turn out to be true or not. As such, take what is being expressed here with a grain of salt for the time being. Baker has had a solid track record in the past with leaks of this kind, but based on his wording, it sounds like a deal between Xbox and its mystery partner hasn’t even been finalized just yet. With that in mind, don’t get ahead of yourself just yet.

What upcoming shooter would you like to see head to Xbox Game Pass? Let me know either down in the comments or over on Twitter at @MooreMan12.