13 Games Hit Game Pass in May, Led by Forza Horizon 6

Thirteen games across two weeks, three of them heavy hitters, all landing shortly after Microsoft cut the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 per month. If you've been on the fence about whether the subscription is pulling its weight in 2026, May is the month that makes the argument for it.

Microsoft confirmed the full lineup today, and the headliners speak for themselves: Forza Horizon 6 arrives May 19, Doom: The Dark Ages drops May 14, and Subnautica 2 enters Early Access the same day. Mixtape, the nostalgic coming-of-age adventure from Beethoven & Dinosaur, rounds out the marquee additions on May 7. Every one of those is a day-one Game Pass launch.

Forza Horizon 6 is the obvious centrepiece. Playground Games announced the game has gone gold, preloading is live on Xbox and the Xbox app (Steam preload coming soon), and the install size is substantial: 135GB on Series X, 130GB on Series S, and 160GB on PC with an SSD required. Premium Edition owners get early access starting May 15, four days ahead of the general launch. The game is set in Japan, features nine radio stations with the largest soundtrack in the series' history, and offers both a native 4K/30fps Quality mode and a Performance mode on Series X. Playground is also handing out six loyalty reward cars to anyone who's played previous Forza titles on their current gamertag, each one a cover car from a past entry in the series.

The Rest of the Lineup

Beyond the headliners, the remaining additions fill out the month with a mix of indie launches and catalogue picks. Ben 10 Power Trip, Descenders Next (Game Preview), Wheel World, Wildgate, and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers all arrive May 6. Outbound, a cozy co-op crafting game, lands May 11. Black Jacket, Call of the Elder Gods (a sequel to Call of the Sea), and Elite Dangerous join May 12. Final Fantasy V is already available today.

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.

I'll be blunt: this is the strongest single month Game Pass has had in a while. Getting Forza Horizon 6, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Subnautica 2 in the same two-week window would have been a strong pitch at the old price. At the reduced rate, it borders on absurd value. Subnautica 2 is especially interesting; Unknown Worlds has a pre-launch showcase set for May 9 alongside a fan art contest and an Alterra Job Fair community event, so we should know a lot more about what that Early Access build looks like before it goes live.

The timing feels deliberate. Microsoft slashed Game Pass pricing and now immediately follows up with a month that justifies the subscription on its own. Whether that pace holds through the rest of the year is the real question, but right now, May 2026 is doing a lot of heavy lifting for the "is Game Pass worth it" conversation.