Microsoft has reportedly paused all efforts to sign new Xbox Game Pass publishing deals. While the move may be temporary, it still spells potentially bad news for the company's content catalog in the medium term, in addition to marking an unprecedented era of uncertainty for Xbox Game Pass partners.
Since late 2025, Xbox Game Pass has gone through another costly day-one Call of Duty launch, a major price increase, a leadership change, a price cut doubling as a partial reversal of the preceding hike, and ultimately the removal of future day-one Call of Duty releases from the service. Between those changes and larger-scale issues at Microsoft's gaming division, the company's flagship service has become a bit of a moving target, growing increasingly unpredictable.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers can mark their calendars accordingly for the 12 games confirmed to be coming to the service in July.
Continuing the trend of uncertainty, Microsoft has now reportedly paused signing any and all Xbox Game Pass publishing deals. That is according to Shams Jorjani, Chief Executive of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, who suggested as much during a late June 2026 episode of The Business of Video Games Podcast. Recounting...
