With 2025's GOTY Now In The Library, Xbox Game Pass Premium Is Becoming Too Good To Ignore

When Xbox Game Pass Premium was first introduced back in October, we didn't know how the service would hold up long-term. Yes, at the time we declared it a great value (largely thanks to Microsoft's new commitment to put its own games in the library within a year), but we still weren't sure how the tier would sit within Microsoft's new XGP lineup. Well, six months in and Xbox Game Pass Premium has surpassed our expectations so far, and some of this month's additions are making it almost too good to ignore.

Just a few days ago, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 joined Xbox Game Pass Premium. Prior to Microsoft announcing this, we actually feared it might leave Game Pass in its entirety - you've got to remember that when Clair Obscur was announced for GPU, we didn't know its popularity would snowball as it has done. We thought there was every chance the team wanted to remove it from the library and bring in some extra sales - but no, instead it's moved down to the lower tier of XGP. This is a massive win for Xbox Game Pass Premium.

Looking further into April, and the picture gets even better. The incredibly popular Hades 2 is bound for Xbox Game Pass on April 14th, and it was quickly brought to our attention that this addition is for Game Pass Premium and Ultimate. Yep, it looks as though the game's staggered Xbox launch has enabled Microsoft to bring this one to Premium players too - so despite it being a 'day one release' for Xbox players, it's not been held exclusively for XGPU. This is a trend we've started to see become more common, too, and is another reason to start taking the tier more seriously.

Looking back to just last month, you had Absolum and Easy Delivery Co. that launched on Xbox with a Game Pass Premium release. These aren't massive games, sure, but they add value to the mid-tier service, and there's plenty of older AAA games in the XGP Premium library now too. Again, March alone brought Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Resident Evil 7 and more to both Game Pass Premium and Ultimate. There's definitely plenty to play on there nowadays!

Of course, we understand that one of the most appealing aspects of the more expensive Game Pass Ultimate tier is the inclusion of day one titles from Microsoft, and we can't deny that with the cost of AAA games these days, that service still provides great value (we love it here at PX, despite the recent price rise). However, if you only dabble with Xbox's big-game lineup — and aren't too fussed about the most recent AAA games in general — then Game Pass Premium really is worth considering right now. We're starting to see some new-to-Xbox indies launch right into the service, and with an ever-growing library of older titles, we can ignore XGP Premium no more.

Is XGP Premium becoming a more enticing service here in 2026? Talk to us about it down below!