Outriders will be on Xbox Game Pass on day one

Outriders will arrive on Xbox Game Pass the same day it's released on April 1.

Xbox confirmed the news - which it promises isn't an April Fool's joke - in a blog post today. "Outriders will be available on Console and Android phones and tablets via Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) with Xbox Game Pass on day one," said Xbox Game Pass community lead Megan Spurr.

Outriders - a new shooter RPG hybrid - is being developed by People Can Fly, which also worked on the chaotic good times that include Bulletstorm and the Gears of War series. This new game is a class-based shooter heavy on special skills like fire attacks and time manipulation, and up to three players can team up in co-op. It has cross-platform functionality too, so no worrying about leaving Steve out of the fun again.

Last month, Square Enix released an Outriders demo that has attracted over two million players and counting, and that our writer Alex Avard dubbed "a cathartic and crunchy co-op shooter." 

Taking to the PlayStation Blog, People Can Fly's Bartek Kmita reacted to the success of the demo and explained that it helped People Can Fly focus on areas that could be polished, like motion blur and camera-shake: "In the end, we decided that since we are ultimately a game built around a really engaging loot-loop, we should support the farming methods based on that with some additional encouragement to also complete the side-quests," Kmita said.

Outriders will be released on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS4, PS5, and PC on April 1.