Xbox Game Pass Kicks Off March With Sports And Star Wars
As it usually does around this time each month, Microsoft has detailed the next batch of games heading to Xbox Game Pass, and this new drop seems to be tailored to sports fans specifically. In all, five of the six games announced for Game Pass today are sports titles – some from EA as part of EA Play (which is now included in Game Pass). There's also a recently-released Star Wars game that's worth checking out as well.
The new additions begin with Madden NFL 21 on console, which is actually available now. It'll be followed by Football Manager 2021 (PC), Football Manager 2021 Xbox Edition (console and PC), and NBA 2K21 (cloud and console) on March 4th, which is tomorrow for those of you who don't have a calendar handy.
Then, at some point in March, Star Wars: Squadrons will be heading to the console version of Xbox Game Pass via EA Play. This is one of those smaller, one-off Star Wars games EA has been releasing lately, just like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Squadrons isn't intended to be a live service game like Battlefront 2, so those of you looking to hop into the cockpit of one of the franchise's iconic starships can do so knowing that you won't have to contend with microtransactions or loot boxes along the way.
Finally, Xbox Game Pass users on console will be getting NHL 21 at some point in April, once again via EA Play. Microsoft is sort of breaking with its own trend here – usually during these Xbox Game Pass announcements, we get an actual release date for each game being announced. That isn't the case with Star Wars: Squadrons and NHL 21, as those are simply designated as "Coming in March" and "Coming in April" respectively.
Of course, with a new round of additions comes a new round of departures as well. Alvastia Chronicles, Astrologaster, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Kona, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are all leaving the service on March 15th, so if you're currently playing any of those games, you've got just under two weeks to finish them up.