Xbox Game Pass Soldiers on With June 2026 Wave 2 Lineup Announcement

Amid reports of imaginable workplace closures and wide layoffs, Microsoft has announced the Xbox Game Pass June 2026 Wave 2 lineup of games. It has yet to comment, however, connected this week’s rumors that the likes of Hellblade developer Ninja Theory, Psychonauts developer Double Fine, and South of Midnight developer Compulsion whitethorn unopen down.

As revealed connected Xbox Wire, coming to Xbox Game Pass during the 2nd fractional of June are EA Sports FC 26, which is of people timed to coincide with the ongoing World Cup, RV There Yet?, and Winds of Arcana: Ruination. Meanwhile, 2021 Call of Duty crippled Vanguard hits Game Pass this month. There are nary time 1 releases for the remainder of June, with Junkster releasing today, June 16.

Game Pass soldiers connected amid caller Xbox brag Asha Sharma’s “reset” of the gaming business, which looks similar it volition effect successful a fig of high-profile casualties. Yesterday, The Game Business reported that Xbox Game Studios brag Craig Duncan had stepped down, and quality of assorted Microsoft studios perchance closing down emerged soon after. IGN has asked Microsoft for remark but it is yet to respond. Double Fine, however, did contented a azygous emoji societal media post, summing up however it feels close now.

According to Bloomberg, Compulsion, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine aren’t the lone Microsoft studios presently negotiating with Xbox to effort to debar closure, either. There is the imaginable for immoderate oregon each to bargain their mode to independence, though that would apt travel alongside layoffs, too.

Following Sharma’s "reset" warning, 1 expert told IGN "the studios astir exposed are superb for prestige and rotten for the spreadsheet." Microsoft was past said to beryllium speeding up improvement connected caller The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Halo games arsenic it considered restructuring oregon adjacent spinning disconnected its gaming branch.

Sharma's ground-shaking memo revealed that Microsoft's gaming concern presently has a 3% accountability borderline (assumed to mean nett margin), which is down year-on-year. "Excluding Activision Blizzard King, implicit the past 5 years, we person spent implicit $20 cardinal connected ongoing investments successful our content, platform, and hardware subsidy, but our yearly gross has declined astir fractional a cardinal during that time. Going forward, this cannot continue," Sharma said.

Following the merchandise of the memo, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said "there's much monetization of Xbox games happening connected YouTube" than astatine Xbox, adding that the Xbox squad needed to fig retired however to "innovate some successful hardware, arsenic good arsenic successful the games, going guardant successful an economically viable way."

"No 1 tin impeach Microsoft of not having invested for the past 25 years," Nadella added. "Now, we person to crook this into a sustainable concern that delivers what is fundamentally 1 of the champion sources of entertainment, still."

New Xbox main strategy serviceman Matthew Ball precocious said Game Pass mislaid "millions of subscribers" aft Microsoft accrued prices by 50% successful October 2025. One of the archetypal strategy changes Sharma brought successful was a terms cut.

This week’s grim quality marks a important U-turn connected Xbox marque sentiment, aft Sharma had started to crook halfway fans astir with a fig of crowd-pleasing changes specified arsenic the determination to marque The Coalition's Gears of War: E-Day and inXile's Clockworld Revolution console exclusives. The Xbox layoffs are expected to travel into effect astatine the extremity of Microsoft's fiscal twelvemonth connected June 30.

Xbox Game Pass June 2026 Wave 2 lineup:

• Call of Duty: Vanguard (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 17, Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• EA Sports FC 26 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 18, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Abyssus (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 25, Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• RV There Yet? (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, and PC) – June 30, Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 2, Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• Winds of Arcana: Ruination (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – July 6, Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

As usual, a fig of games are acceptable to permission Game Pass this month.

Games leaving Xbox Game Pass connected June 30:

• Mecha Break (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Payday 2 (Console)
• Rise of Tomb Raider (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Tomb Raider (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Slay the Spire (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Ultimate Chicken Horse (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Volcano Princess (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Unpacking (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].