Outer Worlds not so Epic-Exclusive after all
There’s actually precedent for this. The Xbox Game Pass brought Metro: Exodus to PC players as part of the subscription service very quickly following it’s release. Yep, despite the console specific name the Xbox Game Pass includes a truly impressive array of PC titles too.
But Outer Worlds — Obsidian’s Sci-Fi Fallout — is coming on launch day (i.e., tomorrow) to the Xbox Game Pass. I don’t believe this was announced at all during the sales cycle. A quick scan of the news not bringing up anything more than a day old seems to back this. The official Xbox Game Pass announcement was only a day ago, too.
It looks like anyone who bought it from the Epic Game Store should be able to refund it though. The refund policy is essentially a copy of the Steam policy. You can refund preorders any time up until the launch date, or within 14 days of launch as long as it hasn’t been played more than 2 hours.
In any case — I am left wondering what exactly the terms of the EGS exclusivity agreement are. Is it really as specific as, ‘No Steam!1!!! Screw those guys!’? I wondered if there might be a loophole wherein inclusion in the Xbox Game Pass wasn’t really selling the game. But the Xbox Game Store is selling it straight up as an option too. For Windows. (And presumably on Xbox too.)
Whatever the case may be — The Outer Worlds is included in the Xbox Game Pass and is available to preload now ahead of it’s release tomorrow. If you haven’t been a subscriber of the Xbox Game Pass service before, you can try it out for $1 for a month. (After which I believe it becomes $11 / month.)
And with the embargo date now passed, early reviews are coming out and they seem fairly positive.
So I have it preloading now. Very happy to be able to try it out tomorrow! Without it being added to the Xbox Game Pass I very likely would have ended up waiting for a Humble Choice inclusion.
Now, this is going to be a bit of a plug — but it’s a heartfelt and unpaid one so bear with me. The Xbox Game Pass is probably the best game subscription service at the moment. I gave it a try earlier in the year for Sea of Thieves and have been a happy subscriber since.
Gears of War 5, Astroneer, We Happy Few, Vampyr and Bards Tale IV are just a few inclusions that have caught my eye. There are a bunch more big titles I already own, but otherwise would have been high on my list are in there too.
It’s come to the point where I really have to check before I make a purchase, because the chances are just that high that something I want is actually already in here.
If you haven’t already — take a look at the included games and see if it might be a fit for you too. :)
