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@fatpunkslim Yep, it's not a new subscription — just an exclusive tier of Xbox Game Pass for Discord Nitro members.

@KlipKlop You're right — it was our intention, but we just forgot to add the link at the time. It's now there.

I also personally spotted these games in the "Recently Added" section of Xbox Game Pass over the weekend, even in the Ultimate tier which they were already part of. They've gone from that section now though.

@BDK71 The formal start date for early access is the 15th.

Here's what the official Forza website says:

"Forza Horizon 6 is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam on May 19, 2026, with Early Access for Premium Edition players starting four days earlier on May 15."

The reason you're seeing the 14th is probably because of your region. I believe (but still need to double-check) that it's launching at midnight local time on the 14th going into the 15th, aside from the PT time zone which will be 9pm on the 14th.

@Kingleo31 I do! It's early days and they've got a lot to prove, but very encouraged by what we're hearing so far.

@fatpunkslim Yeah, I just wanted to get the news out there so people could digest it for themselves before we potentially dive into certain areas of it a little more.

Definitely seems a fascinating watch

@wildcat_kickz Ah, thank you! Corrected.

Update: Feature has been refreshed for May!

10 games have been added to the list (with 10 also removed from April's selection), along with a few changes to release dates for titles like Star Wars: Galactic Racer and He-Man.

Update: As mentioned above, Asha Sharma has just confirmed the news while also announcing that Copilot is being scrapped.

Here's a look at her statement:

"Xbox needs to move faster, deepen our connection with the community, and address friction for both players and developers.

Today, we promoted leaders who helped build Xbox, while also bringing in new voices to help push us forward. This balance is important as we get the business back on track.

As part of this shift, you’ll see us begin to retire features that don’t align with where we’re headed. We will begin winding down Copilot on mobile and will stop development of Copilot on console."

@Millionski I'm not 100% sure on the specifics, but when you've got a title using a Default Game Profile, it changes the settings in the Command Center in ASUS's Armory Crate.

For example, it sets the Operating Mode for you, takes over the FPS Limiter, changes things under the hood to try and give you the best performance and battery life.

I'm not sure how it works in terms of minimum vs. maximum in-game settings though. Need to do some more research on that.

@IronCrow86 Performance-wise you should be fine playing retro games on the base Ally. The bigger issue might be whether those old games were optimised for controllers — if not, then you might have to jump through a few hoops to get them working.

For example, I just tried Return to Castle Wolfenstein and it doesn't recognise the ROG Xbox Ally's inbuilt controller unless I switch the control mode to "Desktop" and I move the mouse around with the right stick. I'm sure there are ways to get it working, but they're not immediately apparent to me.

Edit: That said, I've found footage of someone playing on the OG Ally and it seems to work, so it's probably just me not knowing the ins and outs of this game!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wolfenstein/comments/156n5mh/asus_rog_ally_return_to_castle_wolfenstein/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

@Coletrain Yeah, they seem to be for now. Not seen anything suggesting otherwise.

Thank you very much, and you're welcome! Same to you

@BustedUpBiker So, as I understand it, you'll get the Spacer's Choice Edition for free if you own The Outer Worlds before May 27th, but if you buy it after May 27th, you'll require both the base game and the DLCs to get it for free.

There's another bit about this here:

"After May 27th to upgrade to the Spacer’s Choice Edition from the base game on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, you will need to own the base game and both DLCs for The Outer Worlds. That said, we are removing the paid upgrade path and as long as you have everything, the Spacer’s Choice Edition will be yours."

Thank you for correcting me on the "bare" thing! You're absolutely right... it's been a long week

@Nakatomi_Uk @BustedUpBiker Split/Second is an absolute gem, incredible game that still gets players online as well.

@Fiendish-Beaver It does have a solo campaign, but I don't believe the devs have discussed how long it'll be just yet.

Seems a bit too early to know for sure whether it's more single-player heavy or multiplayer heavy.

@Dravenkrow Could you clarify which Valiant you mean?

I've also just added the following to the list:

Amazing Maze
Dragonkin: The Banished
Easy Delivery Co.
Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf
Super Meat Boy 3D
Sword and Fairy Together Forever

Update: Release date confirmed as October 6th, 2026! Pre-orders are also now live on the Xbox Store.

@TrollOfWar Haha, if you want to. It'll just look I'm talking to myself and have gone crazy (which to be fair, happened a long time ago)

@TrollOfWar Hmm, I might need to be careful here because there's a confidentiality statement involved. Will look into it and see... thanks for sharing anyway.

@TrollOfWar Can you link this to me or provide extra details? I haven't come across it yet, sounds interesting.

@Skinny-Pete Yeah, I saw that! Big shame — both The Games Tester and Fuzion Xbox Testing have been fantastic resources for us and we've tried to share their stuff where possible.

Digital Foundry is obviously best for deep dives, but those two channels have been excellent at getting initial footage and some early visual and frame rate tests for new Xbox releases.

Update: We've got a date for this one! Details are at the top of the article, and if you're still eager for more footage, IGN has shared a new YouTube preview as well:

https://youtu.be/zsZf2W_BAu8?si=HdhtVWJQ67-zMAfT

@MinervaX76 Thank you! We'll look into it — can't promise anything (we have to be very picky with what we cover these days due to our small team, and FFXIV content historically hasn't received that much interest on PX), but the info you've shared is much-appreciated.

@Tasuki @VisitingComet1 Apologies both, I'm on BST time so I occasionally miss tags outside of the UK 9-5!

It doesn't matter whether you capitalise my name or not, it'll still reach me

I find it interesting that the font remained consistent all the way through from 2005 (Xbox 360 launch) to essentially now.

If the new logo is indicative of what to expect going forward, they're basically breaking a 21-year streak of using the word "Xbox" with the same font style.

Trying to pick a favourite is hard, but I know for sure that Xbox One is the weakest 😅

@somnambulance There's a demo of Bubsy 4D if you're interested:

https://www.xbox.com/games/store/bubsy-4d-demo/9mwfzxgjxj89

@Fiendish-Beaver They didn't say anything about this when we reported on it — haven't come across anything since either.

No idea about 007 First Light, but I assume we will get reviews pre-release for that one.

@Lup I didn't think about May the 4th! Definitely hoping for an announcement along those lines...

@Matthewnh Yeah, me too. Might be the first full-priced AAA game I've bought in a while.

@Fiendish-Beaver Thank you! Haven't got much time to grab any sunshine, Asha Sharma is making our year too busy! 😅

@Fiendish-Beaver There isn't really a Trepang1, it was a weird side-scrolling thing that had nothing to do with Trepang2.

Trepang2 is a solo campaign game that does have a story, but it's also "about just shooting everything" as you say

@RexLudian @Dravenkrow Thanks both! Updated.

@Sindayl Nobody knows for sure yet, but they'd probably call it "PC Game Pass" if it was just PC.

Update: Asha Sharma has shared more details to Game File:

“We’ll take a data-driven approach and a strategic-driven approach, and then we’ll look at our principles and we’ll make some calls. So we’ll share more when we’re ready... I want to make the right decision, not the fastest decision.”

https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-asha-sharma-matt-booty-interview

@Skinny-Pete @Coletrain It's like a blend between a forum and a chatroom, but with extra features like the ability to host audio chats and video chats. People set up Discord servers related to specific games and hobbies and whatever else.

I'd never really used it until a few years ago, but some of the "virtual" press events we get invited to are hosted via Discord these days.

@Banjo- Ah, good memory! My brain struggles to go back to Xbox One X anymore, all the memories have been undone by writing 11,925 articles in the last six years

Maybe they could bring back the original Xbox startup for the 25th anniversary in November 👀

@Banjo- Maybe it was just the startup animation that was new? My mind might be deceiving me... I just recall seeing it for the first time on Series X and feeling like a kid at Christmas!

@Skinny-Pete I remember hearing the startup sound for the first time in 2020 and getting all excited about it!

But yes... we definitely need a new one now.

I hate when I forget to turn the volume down when booting up the Series X, and the whole house essentially vibrates with that startup sound and wakes up the entire neighbourhood

@Jenkinss Yeah, you're referring to this one right?

Same thing, just different colour!

I agree with you on the green — there's something about the white logo on top of a green background that I really dislike.

@Jenkinss The green one is from an age verification post from July 2025, so definitely still a current-gen example:

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/07/28/xbox-age-verification-uk/

But yeah... as people have said, they've recoloured the logo multiple times this gen for different events like the Games Showcase and Partner Preview.

It's just that this time, they're including this new logo on marketing materials and alongside the big statement yesterday.

It's even showing up internally at Microsoft HQ on one of their elevators, for example:

@Skinny-Pete Everyone should be getting it by default, this isn't a luck-of-the-draw kind of thing

Mine's coming up soon too, interested to see what the reward is...

@Banjo- Thanks! I'll need to double-check — has it ever gone away over the past few months? We mentioned about Ultimate getting a $1 offer in December, and both Essential and Premium still had the same thing back then.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/12/xbox-launches-new-usd1-game-pass-ultimate-offer-for-the-holidays

It was in November that we last spotted Essential and Premium specifically getting new $1 trials:

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/11/xbox-brings-back-two-regular-black-friday-promotions-including-usd1-game-pass-trials

Will look into it 👍

@DoomSlayer87 I wonder if the "flexible" part could be that full Nitro will be available as an optional add-on?

@Krlozgod Essential is basically a small Xbox Game Pass library that you get access to as long as you're subscribed. The difference is that it's much smaller than Premium and Ultimate, and only gets updated around once every four months (but games rarely leave it).

Here's the full list of Essential games:

https://www.purexbox.com/guides/xbox-game-pass-essential-full-list-of-games-april-2026-update

Essential was the replacement for Xbox Live Gold, which used to give away 4+ games per-month that you could claim permanently.

@freshdex You're welcome, thank YOU for working on this.

@SargeCassidy Do we know exactly how many games it is? The "hundreds" reference was taken from the Reddit post.

@QuantumNinja There's been no word on this as of yet (unless I've missed something).

@GeminiX53 No, of course not! It's all good, no offense taken whatsoever

@GeminiX53 Yeah, fair enough. We covered the Alinea thing last week, so this article was meant to be entirely about Piscatella's comments (and the accompanying Kotaku article) which were less opinionated aside from the "solid debut" remark.

@Balaam_ Until they turn off the servers and you can never download the other half again 😅

@GeminiX53 Is that differently though? We tried to mention most of that stuff in here too, particularly about the minimal competition and what Alinea Analytics had to say about it last week.