Game Pass Dumps Its 2024 GOTY to Make Room for 13 New Titles

Winning Game of the Year apparently doesn't buy you permanent residency on Xbox Game Pass. Metaphor: ReFantazio, which earned that distinction from GameSpot in 2024, is leaving the service on May 31 alongside four other titles. In the same announcement, Microsoft confirmed 13 new games arriving between now and June 2, creating the usual Game Pass churn where one month's headliner becomes next month's casualty.

Metaphor isn't even the only Atlus RPG getting cut. Persona 4 Golden is also departing on the same date, which means Game Pass subscribers who haven't finished either of these 60-plus hour JRPGs have about twelve days to sprint through them or pay up. Both games are available at a minimum 20% discount for subscribers before they leave, but losing two of Atlus's best in a single wave stings. I'd argue Metaphor: ReFantazio in particular was one of the strongest arguments for Game Pass's value proposition last year, and watching it rotate out this quickly is a reminder that the service's greatest strength is also its most frustrating feature.

Against the Storm, Crypt Custodian, and Spray Paint Simulator round out the five departures. Against the Storm is a real loss for strategy fans; Crypt Custodian is a charming indie that probably didn't get enough attention during its time on the service.

What's Coming In

On the additions side, the lineup is solid. Remnant II rejoins Game Pass tomorrow, May 20, across cloud, console, and PC for Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass members. It's a meaty co-op shooter with 60-80 hours of content if you're chasing everything, and its return is well-timed for anyone who missed it the first time around.

The rest of the wave rolls out over two weeks. Luna Abyss arrives May 21, Escape Simulator on May 26, and Echo Generation 2 alongside The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition on May 27. Crashout Crew and Kabuto Park land May 28. Then on June 2, the wave closes with Final Fantasy VI and Jurassic World Evolution 3. Several of these are day-one launches, which is where Game Pass still delivers its clearest value. Jurassic World Evolution 3 launching straight into the service is a big get for anyone who sank time into the previous entries, and Final Fantasy VI arriving on Xbox at all feels like something that would've been unthinkable a few years ago.

Five games also dropped today, May 20, including Dead Static Drive, My Friend Peppa Pig, Pigeon Simulator, Winter Burrow, and Remnant II. Essential tier members get nothing in this wave, though, which continues a pattern that makes that lowest tier increasingly hard to recommend.

The broader tension here is one Game Pass has never resolved. Microsoft uses major third-party titles like Metaphor: ReFantazio to sell subscriptions, but those deals are temporary by nature. Players who subscribe specifically for a game like that can end up feeling burned when it vanishes before they've finished it. A 100-hour RPG rotating out after a few months is a different proposition than a 10-hour indie doing the same. I don't think Microsoft is doing anything deceptive here; the rotating library model is clearly stated. But the gap between how Game Pass is marketed and how it actually works for slower-paced games keeps widening.

Microsoft did recently drop the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 per month, which softens the blow somewhat. At that price, a month with Forza Horizon 6, Remnant II, and Jurassic World Evolution 3 is easy to justify. Whether losing a Game of the Year winner in the same breath undermines that value is something every subscriber has to weigh for themselves, but I suspect most people who wanted to play Metaphor: ReFantazio already did. The ones who didn't just got a twelve-day countdown.