Is Control coming to Xbox Game Pass? It’s complicated

This week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer appeared on an Extra Life charity stream and casually mentioned that Remedy Entertainment’s Control would come to Xbox Game Pass. Today, Remedy and Microsoft say that was an “incorrect” statement and there are “no plans” to bring Control to Microsoft’s video game subscription service.

During the stream, Spencer mentioned that Control “didn’t reach enough people,” and that he was “glad to see it” it being added to Xbox Game Pass. Developer Remedy Entertainment tweeted this morning to dispute Spencer’s statement: “The information about Control coming to Xbox Game Pass as reported on a recent Mixer stream is incorrect,” the developer said. “We have no news or announcements regarding Xbox Game Pass at this time.”

Representatives for 505 Games and Microsoft confirmed the information with Polygon.

“We’re aware that Control was mentioned as coming to the Xbox Game Pass library and can confirm this was in error,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Polygon. “While we are always updating the library and looking for new ways to provide our members with value and choice in their games, we do not have plans to bring Control to the library at this time.”

Just yesterday, Microsoft announced a whole slew of games actually coming to Game Pass this month, including Halo: Reach, Tom Clancy’s The Division, Pathologic 2, Overcooked 2, and Demon’s Tilt. Brand new games do launch on Game Pass, but notably, these are all older releases.

Control was released in August 2019 on Windows PC via the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. If what Spencer said was true — that Control “didn’t reach enough people” — holiday season sales will be important for the publisher. If Control was coming to Game Pass in the future, it could slow its sales on the Xbox One with people anticipating the ability to play it without buying it.