Summary
It’s just over halfway through the month, and it feels safe to say thatXbox Game Passhas already had a pretty great March 2024. Though its first week didn’t blow expectations out of the water,Warhammer 40,000: Boltgunwas a great way to kick off the month, and the one-two-three punch ofNBA 2K24,SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, andControlUltimate Editionhas more than made up for the lack of games earlier in the month. And March’sXbox Game Passline-up still has plenty of games up its sleeve.
BothLightyear FrontierandMLB The Show 24are set to hit Xbox Game Pass in the coming days, and of course,Diablo 4is coming to both Xbox and PC Game Pass at the end of March, which marks a major milestone for the service, with it being the first Activision-Blizzard game to be added post-acquisition. March 2024 has ended up being yet another solid month for Xbox Game Pass, but its most intriguing development doesn’t actually have anything to do with a new addition, but rather a removal, or more aptly, an attempted one.
Xbox Game Pass' March 2024 Line-Up Suggests That Fans Have More Sway Than Ever Before
Ni No Kuni Is Staying on Xbox Game Pass
A remaster and extended edition of the very first game in the series,Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witchoriginally came to Xbox Game Pass back in September 2022, marking the first time that the series had been released on Xbox consoles. A verywell-reviewed JRPGwith a wealth of content,Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witchwas a fairly high-profile Game Pass release, but with its average runtime taking around 50 hours, many fans thought they’d hold off from playing the game for a bit.
Unfortunately, those fans received a rude awakening earlier this month when Xbox announced thatNi No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witchwould be leaving Xbox Game Pass on March 15. Many fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment atNi No Kunileaving the service, and in a rather surprising twist, just a few days later, Xbox subtly revealed that the game was no longer being removed from Game Pass, with a simple line on Xbox’s official blog reading “This game will no longer be leaving the Xbox Game Pass library on March 15.”
Fans Might Have More Influence on Future Xbox Game Pass Line-Ups
While it’s occasionally been the case that a game isremoved from Xbox Game Pass, and then re-added just a few weeks later due to fan demand, it’s extremely rare for a game to be announced that it’s leaving Xbox Game Pass, only to have that announcement be revoked a few days later. The last time this really happened was all the way back in June 2023, whenTMNT: Shredder’s Revengewas set to leave the service, but mysteriously didn’t. It’s unclear just why Xbox decided to keepNi No Kunion Game Pass, but it could set an intriguing new precedent for the service.
This is far from the first time that fans have been vocal about a title leaving Xbox Game Pass, but this is one of the first high-profile instances where their voices have seemingly been heard and acted upon. This could potentially be just the first step ina new strategy for Game Pass, where fans have a greater influence over what games stay on the service and for how long. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Xbox is going to bend to the will of its audience every time, but when mutually beneficial deals can be made between Xbox and a studio, fans might discover they have more sway now than ever before.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft’s flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.
