Last week, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S console owners got a chance to play the zombie open-world action game Dead Island 2 for free for a few days if they were Xbox Game Pas Core or Ultimate subscribers. Now the game is officially part of Xbox Game Pass as a surprise addition to Microsoft"s long lineup of games.
The official Dead Island 2 website has confirmed earlier online reports about the game being added to Xbox Game Pass. While the site says this is just for Ultimate members, it"s also available to access for standard Xbox Game Pass for console subscribers. However, it is not available for PC Game Pass members.
For those of you who might not know about the game, Dead Island 2 is technically a sequel to the original Dead Island, where a zombie outbreak hits a tropical island resort. That game came out in 2011 and was a surprise hit.
However, the efforts to make a sequel, which was announced in 2014, suffered through a lot of development turmoil, including more than one switch in studios. UK-based Dambuster Studios took over making the game in 2019, and it finally launched in April 2023. This time, players have to battle through the undead in Los Angeles.
Dead Island 2 became a solid sales hit, and it ended up becoming the 15th best-selling game in the US in 2023. Dambuster has already released one story-based DLC for the game, and a second is due later in 2024.
Microsoft has already announced its lineup of Game Pass titles for the rest of February and into early March. They include Bluey: The Videogame, which should be added today, Space Engineers on February 29, and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun on March 5. Diablo IV will be added to the service starting on March 28 as the first Activision Blizzard Game Pass title