Earlier this week, some folks checking Microsoft’s Cloud Gaming beta website noticed something weird: listings for games like Elden Ring and Grand Theft Auto V not only said they were part of the company’s Game Pass offering, but would also be playable on the cloud.
Here’s a screengrab of Elden Ring’s page taken by @klobrille, clearly showing both the “GAME PASS” badge and the fact that it’s playable on the Cloud Gaming beta:
Listings for Grand Theft Auto V (which has already been on the service and left) and, weirdly, Soul Hackers revealed the same thing, in that none of the games had previously been available either on Game Pass or on Cloud Gaming, but now here they were. Even weirder is the fact that none of those things had ever been announced, which you’d think would be the case given the prominence of both Elden Ring and GTA V.
There’s a reason for that, of course, because Microsoft have since told Eurogamer that the listings were a “bug”. “We’re aware of a bug that incorrectly displayed some titles as available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate,” a representative says. “We rolled out a fix and this is now updated.”
Normally this kind of administrative, backend stuff wouldn’t be that exciting, but what got people interested here is that GamesCom is less than two weeks away, with Microsoft due to make a significant appearance (and a live presentation). And in June, Microsoft announced that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users would be able to play “select” titles they own via Cloud Gaming, even if they weren’t part of the Game Pass catalogue.
Put those two things together and it seemed entirely plausible that Microsoft had simply jumped the gun on a couple of GamesCom announcements. Calling these listings a “bug” certainly seems to put a dampener on that enthusiasm, but GamesCom kicks off on August 22 just in case you want to keep an eye on things anyway.
