Rocket League on Xbox Game Pass brings necessary muscle to its service

Rocket League

In a major play to bring more popular contemporary multiplayer games to its service, Microsoft has added Rocket League to the Xbox Game Pass subscription. Microsoft teased the addition via Twitter overnight, with the switch made official on the Microsoft Store short after.

Now, players who pay the $9.99 (£7.99, AU$10.95) monthly fee for Xbox Game Pass can play as much Rocket League as they wish, complete with nearly all of the game’s downloadable expansion content since its launch.

Rocket League isn’t exactly the new hotness on Xbox One, having released back in February 2016 on the console, but that’s not the point of this addition. Despite its age, Rocket League remains to be immensely popular amongst online gamers, especially in competitive circles.

For Xbox Game Pass to succeed, and for it to be worth your dollar, the service doesn’t just need to offer all of Microsoft’s own newest games for ‘free’, but include games that may not be new yet are still played a whole lot.

It’s this combination of contemporary mainstay favorites and hot new releases that’s going to keep Xbox Game Pass going and maintain a lead on Nintendo and Sony, neither of which having any such service, seemingly watching Microsoft doing something right from the sidelines.

Rocket League joins similar mainstay online games on Xbox Game Pass, like The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, Dirt 4 and Payday 2. Clearly, Microsoft is onto something its rivals aren’t.

Via WccfTech

Joe Osborne

Joe Osborne is the Senior Technology Editor at Insider Inc. His role is to leads the technology coverage team for the Business Insider Shopping team, facilitating expert reviews, comprehensive buying guides, snap deals news and more. Previously, Joe was TechRadar's US computing editor, leading reviews of everything from gaming PCs to internal components and accessories. In his spare time, Joe is a renowned Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master – and arguably the nicest man in tech.