Forza Horizon 6 Headlines Massive Game Pass May Drop

Thirteen games across two weeks, four day-one launches, and a first-party flagship to cap it off. Microsoft's Game Pass May 2026 Wave 1 lineup is stacked in a way the service hasn't been for months, and it arrives at a moment when the company clearly needs subscribers to feel like they're getting their money's worth.

Forza Horizon 6 is the obvious headliner, launching straight into Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on May 19. Playground Games' open-world racer has been one of Xbox's most reliable franchises, and dropping it day one into the subscription reinforces the core pitch Microsoft has been making since Game Pass existed: you don't need to spend £70 on first-party games. But Forza isn't carrying this month alone. Subnautica 2 arrives in Game Preview on May 14, the same day DOOM: The Dark Ages joins Game Pass Premium after its earlier launch window. Mixtape, the follow-up from the team behind The Artful Escape, hits on May 7. And Call of the Elder Gods, the Lovecraftian sequel to 2020's Call of the Sea, lands on May 12.

I haven't seen a single wave this dense in a long time. Usually you get one marquee title and a handful of filler. This month has variety: a racing blockbuster, a survival sequel people have been waiting years for, a Souls-inspired action game in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, a cozy open-world explorer in Outbound, and Elite Dangerous returning to the service for console and cloud players. Even the smaller additions like Black Jacket and Wildgate round things out rather than just padding the count.

After the Price Cut

This lineup doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's the first major wave since Microsoft slashed Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 per month and PC Game Pass from $16.49 to $13.99, a decision made under new Xbox boss Asha Sharma. That price drop was a clear signal that subscriber growth had stalled or declined enough to force action, and a wave like this feels like the follow-through. Lower price, bigger lineup, hope people re-subscribe or stick around. I think it's a smart play; the old pricing was getting harder to justify month over month, especially during quieter periods where the additions were forgettable.

The Call of Duty change looms over all of this, though. Microsoft confirmed that starting with this year's entry, new Call of Duty games won't launch day one on Game Pass anymore, instead arriving a year later. That was Game Pass's single biggest draw for a huge chunk of the subscriber base, and removing it makes months like this one more important. If the regular lineup can't consistently deliver, the value proposition weakens fast. May 2026 delivers. June needs to as well.

Here's the full Wave 1 schedule, as confirmed on Xbox Wire:

• May 6: Ben 10 Power Trip, Descenders Next (Game Preview), Wheel World, Wildgate, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
• May 7: Mixtape
• May 11: Outbound
• May 12: Black Jacket, Call of the Elder Gods, Elite Dangerous
• May 14: DOOM: The Dark Ages, Subnautica 2 (Game Preview)
• May 19: Forza Horizon 6

Five games leave the service on May 15: Galacticare, Go Mecha Ball, Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, Paw Patrol Rescue Wheels: Championship, and Planet of Lana. Subscribers can buy any of them at up to 20% off before they're removed. Losing Planet of Lana stings a little given how well-received it was, but with its sequel already out, the timing makes sense. A second batch of removals is expected for May 31, with Microsoft yet to confirm those titles.