Summary
- Microsoft announces new games coming to Xbox Game Pass in early January 2025, including Road 96, My Time at Sandrock, and Diablo.
- Six games will be leaving the service this month, including Exoprimal and Those Who Remain.
Microsoft has made its first Xbox Game Pass new game lineup announcement of 2025. Leaks and rumors had already given fans an idea of what to expect in January, but now players have the official word on what’s new and what’s leaving this month. It may be just one week into 2025, but the year is already looking like another exciting one for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
While this may be Xbox’s first incoming lineup reveal of the year, it’s not the first 2025 announcement for the subscription service. Microsoft previously unveiled significant changes coming to Xbox Game Pass, including age restrictions and a shift in how rewards work. Many of these changes are already in effect — just in time for the first slate of new available games.
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Microsoft announced seven games coming to Xbox Game Pass on the official Xbox blog on January 7, 2025. One of them — 2021’s choice-driven Road 96 — is available to play now for all Game Pass tiers, including PC Game Pass. The game had already been on the platform once before, but Road 96 left Xbox Game Pass in June 2023 before Xbox announced its return alongside a handful of other incoming titles in December 2024. The other six games in the January lineup will come later in the month, mostly on January 8, with two arriving on January 14.
New Games on Xbox Game Pass for January 2025
- Road 96, available January 7
- Lightyear Frontier (Preview), available January 8
- My Time at Sandrock, available January 8
- Robin Hood – Sherwood Builders, available January 8
- Rolling Hills, available January 8
- UFC 5, available January 14
- Diablo, available January 14
Earlier leaks suggested Diablo and UFC 5 were coming to Xbox Game Pass, and now it’s clear the rumors were true, and players have an official availability date. However, not every subscriber will get to play these two games. Diablo will be exclusive to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass users, and UFC 5 will be an Ultimate-only title. The rest of the lineup is available with a Standard subscription, including the sci-fi Lightyear Frontier, which is still in early access.
A handful of new Game Pass Ultimate perks are also available as of January 7. These include a weapon charm for Apex Legends and DLC packs for First Descendant, Vigor, and Metaball. Of course, a new lineup of games also means a few are leaving the platform. Previous updates to the Xbox app have already revealed the six titles leaving Xbox Game Pass on January 15, but now Microsoft has officially confirmed them. The games in question are:
- Common’hood
- Escape Academy
- Exoprimal
- Figment
- Insurgency Sandstorm
- Those Who Remain
All of these announcements are just for the first half of the month, so Xbox fans should stay tuned. It won’t be long before the next lineup announcement comes for the second half of January 2025 and beyond.
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.