Xbox Game Pass Losing 7 Games Today, But It's Not All Bad

Seven titles are leaving Xbox Game Pass later today, bringing the total number of this month's removals to 12, with the departures including several critically acclaimed releases. However, January 2026 has still been a significant net positive for the service, especially compared to Xbox Game Pass catalog changes from this time last year.

Like clockwork, Microsoft's subscription library shrinks every two weeks, at the end and in the middle of each month. In the most recent example of this long-running trend, Xbox Game Pass removed Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, Neon White, and three other titles on January 15. Seven more games are now set to follow.

Related

Xbox Game Pass Adds Open-World Game With 83 Critic Score

Xbox Game Pass marks its very first triple release day of 2026 by introducing three new titles with some impressive review scores.

Posts

By  Dominik Bošnjak

Multiple Acclaimed Titles Departing Xbox Game Pass Today

The January 31 Xbox Game Pass departures include Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, Starbound, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, and Cataclismo. All four are well-received titles that boast OpenCritic average scores in the 80s. Rounding out the list of late January 2026 removals are Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap, Paw Patrol World, and Shady Part of Me. Based on Microsoft’s typical content cadence, these seven games are expected to be removed from Xbox Game Pass around midnight on February 1. Anyone who's playing them at that exact time will likely receive a brief grace period to wrap up their session, which is how such situations were handled in recent history.

Xbox Game Pass Games Leaving Today, January 31

All of the January 31 removals have been available on Xbox Game Pass since 2025, with most joining the service around 12 months ago. The only exceptions are Cataclismo and Paw Patrol World, which were added—and in the latter's case, re-added—in September 2025. Achievement hunters wanting to boost their Gamerscore totals before these titles leave the service can still feasibly grab plenty of trophies in Paw Patrol World and Shady Part of Me. The latter was developed by Douze Dixièmes, a small French studio that recently released the critically acclaimed metroidvania MIO: Memories in Orbit, which debuted on Xbox Game Pass as a day-one title on January 20.

Despite a dozen removals, January 2026 has been a net positive for Xbox Game Pass. The service added 18 new titles this month, resulting in a +6 net change—at least for PC Game Pass and XGP Ultimate subscribers. One of the more unusual January 2026 stats concerns the average tenure of removed games, which stands at just 8.9 months. Most titles typically remain on the service for at least a year, but the seasonal addition of The Grinch: Christmas Adventures and the short-lived stints of The Ascent, Paw Patrol World, and Cataclismo have pulled this month’s average down.

Xbox Game Pass January 2026 Stats

• Games added: 18
  • To Ultimate: 18
  • To Premium: 16
    • 12 new + 4 that were already available on Ultimate

  • Handheld-optimized: 4
  • Cloud-supported: 13

• Games removed: 12
  • Average XGP stint: ~9 months
  • Average OpenCritic score: 76

• Net change: +6 (Ultimate) / 4 (Premium)

The next confirmed Xbox Game Pass release is Indika, an adventure game from Odd Meter, scheduled to join the service on February 2. JRPG classic Final Fantasy 2 will follow a day later, with early access SRPG Menace arriving on February 5. By then, Microsoft will likely have officially announced the Wave 1 Xbox Game Pass lineup for February 2026. Based on the company's usual schedule, the reveal is expected to take place on February 3, a few hours after Final Fantasy 2 is added to the XGP catalog.