Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the first game in popular shooter franchise Activision Blizzard to be released after being bought by Microsoft in 2023. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will be able to play that game the same day it debuts, and subscribers will be able to play other popular games like StarCraft and StarCraft 2 soon.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick — offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Series S, Xbox One, and PC or mobile device for $20 a month. A subscription gets you access to a large library of games, with new titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 added every month, plus other benefits, such as online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles.
Read more: What You Need to Know About Xbox Game Pass Standard
Here are all the games Game Pass subscribers can play soon, and here are the games Microsoft added to the service earlier in October.
South Park: The Fractured but Whole
Available: Oct. 16
From the twisted minds of Trey Parker and Matt Stone comes a turn-based RPG adventure set in the iconic quiet, little, redneck, podunk, white trash mountain town. You’re the new kid on the block and are thrown into a game of two superhero factions fighting to create their own media franchise. But as the game goes on, the superheroes uncover a conspiracy to raise crime in the town, bringing them into conflict with ninjas, the sixth-graders and members of the local elderly population.
Donut County
Available: Oct. 17
The story-based physics puzzle game is back on Game Pass more than a year after Microsoft removed it. You play as a hole in the ground tasked with consuming objects in each stage. It’s similar to the game Katamari Damacy, but instead of pushing a ball around to collect items, you eat everything in sight — which is coincidentally what I did when I visited a donut shop the other day.
MechWarrior 5: Clans
Available: Oct. 17
Step into a towering mech and fight your way across the galaxy in the latest installment of the MechWarrior series. Your territory is being invaded in this game, and you lead a squad of five other mech pilots to turn the invasion back. This isn’t a run-and-gun game, though. You’ll have to coordinate your moves with other units to create the perfect opportunities to attack.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Available: Oct. 25
It’s the early 1990s, the Cold War is over and the US is the lone superpower in the latest installment of the popular shooter franchise. While most people are watching the Middle East, a clandestine group has infiltrated the highest levels of the CIA. Now your team, led by Black Ops character Frank Woods, is being hunted by the military.
Once you’ve moved through the campaign, you can battle others in online multiplayer or team up with them to fend off the zombie hordes.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (cloud)
Available: Oct. 25
The first Call of Duty game to land on Game Pass since Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023 is coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming.
In this rebooted first-person shooter, you can continue the story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as you and a team of special forces members try to track down an ultranationalist terrorist. You can also take on hordes of the undead in the zombies gameplay mode or challenge your friends in multiplayer mode. With the Carry Forward feature, you can transfer much of your content and weapons progressions from Modern Warfare 2 to this game, and as long as you have an Activision account you can use this feature across different platforms.
Call of Duty: Warzone (cloud)
Available: Oct. 25
The free-to-play, battle royale Call of Duty game is coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming. This game can support huge maps filled with up to 150 players in a single match — many similar games can support 100 players. So wherever you physically are, get ready to virtually drop in and fight it out across maps like Verdansk and Rebirth Island.
Ashen
Available: Oct. 29
Microsoft is bringing this co-op action RPG back to Game Pass almost five years after removing it from the service. In this game, you’re searching for a home in a sunless world, and your quest brings you into contact with other characters and monsters. How you deal with them — fight them, work with them or ignore them — is up to you.
Dead Island 2 (PC)
Available: Oct. 31
Just in time for Halloween, you can play this zombie survival game on your PC a few months after Xbox console and cloud gamers could play it. In this title, you and your band of survivors are looking for a way out of the zombie-infested streets of Los Angeles. But it’s not all doom and gloom. The dark humor in this gory title is reminiscent of films like Zombieland and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, so don’t be surprised if you chuckle to yourself as you swing a bat at a zombie’s head.
StarCraft: Remastered (PC)
Available: Nov. 5
Experience Blizzard’s updated original sci-fi real-time strategy game for the first — or umpteenth — time. Experience the battle between the terran, protoss and zerg with improved graphics and audio. This edition also includes the expansion StarCraft: Brood War. Just make sure you don’t get overwhelmed by a zerg rush.
StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection (PC)
Available: Nov. 5
Once you’ve played the original StarCraft, jump into the galactic battle again with this popular sequel. In addition to the original campaign, this edition of the game also includes the Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void and Nova Covert Ops expansions, giving you plenty of battles and scenarios to work through.
Games leaving Game Pass soon
While Microsoft is adding those games to Game Pass, it’s also removing five others on Oct. 31. That means you still have some time to finish your campaign or any side quests before you’ll have to purchase these games separately.
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery
Headbangers
Inkulinati
Lonely Mountains: Downhill
Mineko’s Night Market
For more on Xbox, check out other games available on Game Pass Ultimate now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you.
Watch this: Hands-On With the All-Digital Xbox Series X
