5 Games That Could Have Benefited From a Day One Game Pass Release

Quantum Break

Remedy Entertainment is one of the most interesting development studios in gaming. It has an impressively diverse catalog with titles like Alan Wake, the first two Max Payne games, and Control. But the focus of the day is Remedy’s 2016 critically acclaimed Xbox exclusive, Quantum Break, and how Game Pass could have given it a much-needed bump.

Before the game launched, Microsoft was pushing it hard. There was even a special white Xbox One bundle that included the game and Alan Wake. And Remedy was even able to get some great actors for their leads — Shawn Ashmore and Aidan Gillen. By all accounts, Quantum Break had everything it needed to be a smash hit for the Xbox One.

Unfortunately, like many other Xbox exclusives that launched before the Game Pass era, this well-reviewed game received a massively underwhelming reception in the retail space. It started out hot as the best-selling new IP for Xbox One when it launched, but then quickly fizzled out. More exposure from Game Pass could have given Quantum Break the extra eyeballs it needed to be a massive success.

Gears of War 4

Gears of War 4 marked the beginning of a new era for the third-person shooter franchise. Besides passing the torch from Marcus Fenix to new major characters like J.D. Fenix and Kait Diaz, it was also the first time that game studio The Coalition was heading up the development for a new Gears of War title.

And when the game launched, it received rave reviews — including a 5/5 from us here at Twinfinite. It just didn’t manage to be a return to form sales-wise compared to previous Gears of War titles. Gears of War 4 sold a few million copies, but for a major exclusive IP on a console with slowing sales, it needed to do better.

And fast-forwarding a few years, we saw what a boon Game Pass was for Gears 5. Not only did Game Pass help get the game into the hands of more Xbox and PC players, but it also helped it exceed Gears of War 4 in sales.

Sunset Overdrive

Insomniac Games is arguably one of the best action game developers in the business today. That studio just pumps out absolutely fantastic games one after another. Up until the recent acquisition by Sony, Insomniac was a free agent of sorts despite its rich history of supporting the PlayStation with Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance.

Sunset Overdrive had the opportunity to be a major release for the Xbox One and bring it out of the PS4’s shadow maybe at least a little bit. The game’s movement would eventually become Insomniac’s inspiration for how controlling Spider-Man would feel and the guns were just as wild as what you’d see in Ratchet & Clank.

Based on that, Sunset Overdrive sounds like one heck of a game that surely must have moved Xbox One consoles. Unfortunately, this is pretty far from the truth. Sunset Overdrive hardly moved systems. Had Game Pass been out at that time more Xbox gamers would have been able to enjoy one of the best exclusives released last generation.

Halo Wars 2

Halo is in a bit of a weird spot right now. It has nowhere near the level of popularity that it did back in the 2000s but it’s currently the biggest game that many Xbox Series X|S owners are currently looking forward to. And the current lull in popularity was also a problem for Halo Wars 2.

The original Halo Wars was an extremely popular console RTS game and this sequel was looking to deliver an even better experience. Games in the RTS genre are a bit niche, but putting a recognizable skin — Halo in this case — on it would help out in theory.

But what truly would have helped this game take off is Game Pass. Unfortunately, the game landed four months before the service went live and the rest is history. There are no concrete sales numbers for this game, but most estimates seem to indicate that Halo Wars 2 sold about the same as the original if not less.

ReCore

ReCore is one of the saddest stories from the last generation. It’s the tale of a game that wasn’t horrible but just couldn’t live up to the hype critically or in retail. And it certainly didn’t help that Forza Horizon 3 launched just two weeks after ReCore hit store shelves.

Reviews scores for ReCore were mostly around what most sites would consider average. You can check out our review of the game right here. But these days it seems that anything below a four out of five is often looked at as an irredeemably bad game by many vocal people online.

Despite the mixed reviews, Game Pass would have been huge for ReCore. Even though Crackdown 3 ended up in the same boat, it still had a massive amount of players try it out at launch simply because it was on the service. Breaking down that $60 barrier to entry could have been huge for ReCore.