Microsoft has been making moves in recent months to bring more games to the Xbox Game Pass, the company's subscription service featuring over 100 titles. Microsoft's recent acquisition of Bethesda brought a collection of 20 games to the service, and Microsoft's continued push to add to Xbox Game Pass will see Empire of Sin join that list soon.
The turn-based mafia strategy game released last year to polarizing reviews. Some who reviewed Empire of Sin were pulled into the atmospheric, 1920s Chicago setting, while others were taken out of the experience by bugs and balance issues. The game from famed Doom designer John Romero and his wife Brenda has players take on the role of mob bosses, each inspired by real-life Chicago gangsters from the Prohibition era. As players build their empire, they can gain more territory by force, through turn-based strategic combat, or through persuasive means and deal making. The game's blend of genres is one of the things most reviewers agree works well.
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Empire of Sin is on its way to the Xbox Game Pass on March 18, after only being out for a few months. This seems to be part of Microsoft's plan to get newer titles onto its service so it can pull in more subscribers. The upcoming game Outriders is rumored to be launching on Xbox Game Pass as well as traditional channels, which would signal an even more significant change to how the service works. If brand-new titles can drop exclusively on Game Pass, then fans may see no other choice but to sign up.
Often these subscription services are ways for players to revisit older titles without having to purchase a game outright, or play a game particularly hard to track down by other means. Having classics on a subscription service, similar to the early days of Netflix, makes sense. Now that the pop culture landscape has changed and Netflix produces plenty of original content, the same thing could happen with Xbox Game Pass. Outriders may be a big test for this kind of change, if the rumors are true.
Empire of Sin will join another recent acquisition to the service, as The Evil Within is coming to Xbox Game Pass. While that game has been out for a few years, developer Tango Gameworks is now part of Microsoft Game Studios, so future releases from Tango will be Xbox exclusives. Microsoft's aggressive year continues as the company is looking to angle itself as the go-to platform, and Xbox Game Pass as the go-to service, for the next console generation.
Empire of Sin is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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