Paradox Withdraws Xbox Game Pass Release 'After Discussion With Partners'

Here's a bit of a strange one! You may remember that Victoria 3 was announced by Paradox Interactive for PC Game Pass at some point later in 2022, but unfortunately that's no longer the case.

As revealed on the official Paradox forums, the company has decided to withdraw its involvement in Game Pass with Victoria 3 "after discussion with our partners", which means the game will now be a Steam exclusive:

"The game will be a Steam exclusive at the release - after discussion with our partners it was decided that Victoria 3 won't be a part of Game Pass or Microsoft Store."

Victoria 3 was first announced for Game Pass back in May of 2021, but was once again mentioned in a Game Pass roundup in June 2022, so this must be a pretty recent decision to avoid Game Pass and go Steam exclusive.

The company did mention that it "look[s] forward to sharing more details on our next partnership with Xbox in the future", pointing out that the likes of Crusader Kings III, Stellaris, Shadowrun Trilogy and Hearts of Iron IV are all already playable on the service for console and/or PC. Fair enough!

FYI, Victoria 3 will officially be released on October 25th, 2022 — but yes, it's a Steam exclusive now.

Were you looking forward to Victoria 3 on Game Pass? Let us know down in the comments below.

[source forum.paradoxplaza.com, via trueachievements.com]