Xbox Game Pass is Primed to Have an Epic 2023

gamerant.com:

Starfield from Bethesda Game Studios has quite a bit of hype behind it, and for good reason. It will be the first large-scale single-player RPG that Bethesda has put out since 2015's Fallout 4, and it's even been described as Skyrim in space. Starfield has potential to be a huge success when it launches, and it was being positioned as Xbox's premiere holiday 2022 release. Unfortunately, Bethesda delayed Starfield, pushing the game back to 2023.

Starfield's delay hurts Xbox in 2022, and by extension, it hurts the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. The big selling point of Xbox Game Pass is immediate day one access to brand-new games, including first-party Xbox titles like Starfield. Starfield has left a big void that Xbox Game Pass will have to figure out some way to fill, and it's not the only Bethesda-published game that was moved to 2023. It was also confirmed that vampire multiplayer game Redfall from Arkane has also been delayed from 2022 to 2023.

Game Pass Adds 2 More Games to the Lineup

But when it comes to Xbox Game Pass, 2022's loss is 2023's gain. The delays ofRedfall and Starfield to 2023 may give people less reasons to be subscribed to Xbox Game Pass this year, but they will help to make 2023 absolutely huge for the subscription service.

Microsoft has been upfront that one of the main reasons it acquired Bethesda and its studios was to secure exclusive games for Xbox and Game Pass. Previous Bethesda deals with PlayStation have meant that Bethesda-published titles like Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo have released as timed PS5 exclusives, but those deals are done and 2023 is when the Bethesda acquisition will really start to pay off.

Besides Redfall and Starfield, there is potential for other Bethesda-published