If you’ve been following the recent output from Square Enix, you’ll know it’s been
quite a mixed bag. Sure, the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts successes have
been welcomed by the fans. However, the diabolical attempt to deliver a Marvel’s
Avengers title was critically and commercially panned, leading to a loss of over
60 million dollars on the project. This setback hasn’t derailed the company’s
efforts though and Outriders is the newest IP that looks set to offer gameplay that
has many similarities to the Destiny franchise. For many, this would be a gamble
to pick up at full retail but for Xbox users, there is great news. Outriders looks set
to join the Xbox Game Pass line up for April 2021.
This news comes due to some cryptic messages on Twitter from the Xbox Game
Pass official account. This tweet featured a fake email from Melisa Mcgamepass
enquiring if anyone “has witnessed a strange, mysterious signal appearing in the
distance.” To which the reply states “am I the anomaly in this situation.” This
cryptic social media output ties in with the narrative of the Outriders title and for
that reason, many believe that this title is destined for Game Pass in April.
Is Outriders Following in Sony’s Footsteps?
There are really two schools of thought as to why this decision has been made by
the Outriders developers. The first is that this could be a means of competing
with Sony. As we know, Oddworld: Soulstorm will be free to play for all PS Plus
customers in April, so this could be a means of providing Xbox customers with an
equally fresh and appealing title for the month of April.
However, the second school of thought is that Square Enix doesn’t believe in this title and believe that this may be the best way to create a player base for a sub-
par title. This wouldn’t be surprising, not only due to the Avengers flop but also
because of the rumblings behind the scenes. We have learned that this game will
not have dedicated servers and will not be a live service game. Which means that
Square Enix is likely to get this game out and is unlikely to nurture its
development for the coming months after. So we ask if they believed in this
game, would they do that?
We still don’t know if this game will land on Xbox Game Pass but we should hear
an announcement in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Outriders launches on
Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia on April 1st 2021
So that’s our news regarding Outriders potentially landing on Xbox Game Pass.
What do you make of the news? What do you think the reason this game is being
released in this manner is? Do you think Outriders will be a success or a flop? Let
us know in the comments section below and as always, thank you for reading.
