It seems as though the Game Pass dam has broken and a wave of non-Xbox Game Studios projects is flowing into the service's extensive library. Knockout City has been revealed as the third to do so since April 1.
First it was Outriders from Square Enix and People Can Fly on April 1. More recently, it was MLB The Show 21 from Sony Santa Monica, thanks to MLB self-publishing the game on platforms outside of Sony's PlayStation ecosystem. Now, it's EA's latest "indie," Knockout City, which will arrive in Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play on May 21, the same day it launches everywhere else for $20.
While not as big a release as its predecessors, the arrival of Knockout City in Game Pass on day one continues an emerging trend of games that want to get in on the action that Game Pass provides. Both Outriders and MLB The Show suffered server issues due to apparently highly trafficked multiplayer lobbies, which in the grand scheme of game launches is certainly one of the better problems to have.
Hopefully for Velan Studios and EA, Knockout City can buck that trend. Knockout City is a competitive dodgeball game that operates a bit like a third-person shooter, albeit in a family-friendlier world. The game's economy is built on selling in-game cosmetics, and it features full crossplay spanning all its platforms, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC. Surely giving the game to Xbox's 20+ million subscribers right away is a good kickstart to the game's prospects.
After several beta periods and a few crossplay weekends, Knockout City is set to launch on May 21 on virtually all platforms.
