AMD Shares Slide Despite Earnings Beat as Cautious Revenue Outlook Weighs on Stock 
Tencent Shares Slide After WeChat Restricts YuanBao AI Promotional Links 
Oracle Plans $45–$50 Billion Funding Push in 2026 to Expand Cloud and AI Infrastructure 
Nvidia’s $100 Billion OpenAI Investment Faces Internal Doubts, Report Says 
Pentagon and Anthropic Clash Over AI Safeguards in National Security Use 
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Explores Merger Options With Tesla or xAI, Reports Say 
Amazon Stock Dips as Reports Link Company to Potential $50B OpenAI Investment 
Anthropic Eyes $350 Billion Valuation as AI Funding and Share Sale Accelerate 
SpaceX Updates Starlink Privacy Policy to Allow AI Training as xAI Merger Talks and IPO Loom 
Federal Judge Signals Possible Dismissal of xAI Lawsuit Against OpenAI 
Apple Faces Margin Pressure as Memory Chip Prices Surge Amid AI Boom 
NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Amazon Eye Massive OpenAI Investment Amid $100B Funding Push 
Jensen Huang Urges Taiwan Suppliers to Boost AI Chip Production Amid Surging Demand 
Nvidia Confirms Major OpenAI Investment Amid AI Funding Race 
Apple Earnings Beat Expectations as iPhone Sales Surge to Four-Year High 
Meta Stock Surges After Q4 2025 Earnings Beat and Strong Q1 2026 Revenue Outlook Despite Higher Capex 
Nintendo Shares Slide After Earnings Miss Raises Switch 2 Margin Concerns 
One of the recent announcements for Xbox Games Pass focused on the addition of upcoming games developed by independent studios. Some of the most recognizable titles include “Boyfriend Dungeon,” “Sable,” and “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,” all confirmed to be available on the subscription-based service at launch.
What’s new on Xbox Games Pass
In the latest ID@Xbox presentation last Friday, Microsoft announced that more than 20 upcoming games from its indie studio partners would be available through Xbox Games Pass on launch day. The list includes some highly anticipated indie titles such as “Boyfriend Dungeon” from Kitfox Games, “Sable” from developer Shedworks, and “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2” from GSC Game World.
These games do not have specific release dates yet, but they are also slated to launch sometime in 2021. Also included in the list of upcoming indie titles with day-one availability on Xbox Games Pass include “Astria Ascending,” “Craftopia,” “Dead Static Drive,” “Recompile,” “Little Witch in the Woods,” fishing-themed RPG “Moonglow Bay,” “Narita Boy,” “Nobody Saves the World,” and “Omno.”
Other games being added to Xbox Games Pass already saw previous launches through different platforms, such as “Art of the Rally,” “Backbone,” “Hello Neighbor 2,” and “Library of Ruina.”
Xbox Games Pass helps indie studios and gamers get to know good indie titles
The marketing of new video game IPs is understandably one of the most challenging works an independent studio has to go through. But having their games launch on services like Xbox Games Pass helps developers immediately increase their game’s exposure considering the growing subscriber-base of the platform.
Finding good indie titles is also made a little easier for Microsoft since it has the ID@Xbox program allowing indie developers to self-publish their games on Xbox and Windows PC platforms. It is then not surprising that Xbox Games Pass also benefits from such an established partnership through this program.
No More Robots founder Mike Rose previously told Eurogamer how Xbox Games Pass has been helpful to them as an indie studio. “What more does a developer or publisher need than a s***load of players and a s***load of money?" On a more serious note, Rose also revealed that No More Robots’ latest Game Pass agreement allowed them to fund three new games launching in 2021.
Featured photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash
