Xbox Game Pass September Wave 1: Cold War Arrives, Cyberpunk 2077 Heads Out

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War lands on Xbox Game Pass on September 8, headlining the first wave of September additions alongside seven titles total. At the same time, ten games — including Cyberpunk 2077, Dead Cells, and Frostpunk 2 — leave the service on September 15. If any of those are on your backlog, you have until mid-month.

The new additions

Speedrunners 2: King of Speed kicks things off on September 3 as a day-one Game Pass title. The sequel supports 8-player multiplayer with crossplay and comes from TinyBuild — it's the wave's clearest argument that Game Pass remains a strong home for indie multiplayer games.

Cold War's arrival on September 8 is worth flagging for a different reason. Microsoft stopped putting new Call of Duty releases on Game Pass day-one, meaning Modern Warfare 4 (out October 23) will be a full-price purchase. Older CoD entries are now filling the gap — Cold War is available on Cloud, Console, and PC tiers via Xbox Wire.

Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage and RuneScape: Dragonwilds round out the wave on September 10 and 15 respectively.

Full list of games coming to Game Pass (Wave 1, Sept 1–15):

- Shelldiver — available now (Ultimate, Premium, PC) - Speedrunners 2: King of Speed — September 3 (Ultimate, PC) - Dice a Million — September 4 (Ultimate, PC) - Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War — September 8 (Ultimate, Premium, PC) - The Royal Writ — September 10 (Ultimate, Premium, PC) - Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage — September 10 (Ultimate, Premium, PC) - RuneScape: Dragonwilds — September 15 (Ultimate, Premium, PC)

What's leaving on September 15

Cyberpunk 2077's exit is the most notable departure. It joined Game Pass in March 2026 and is out after exactly six months — the same pattern CD Projekt Red followed when The Witcher 3 left the service. The studio consistently pulls titles after a defined window rather than keeping them in the catalog long-term, as Windows Central notes.

Also leaving: Commandos: Origins, Cricket 24, Dead Cells, Deep Rock Galactic Survivor, Frostpunk 2, Mullet MadJack, Spiritfarer, Superliminal, and Train Sim World 5.

What this means for subscribers

The back-catalog strategy for Call of Duty is becoming a fixture. Subscribers get older entries; new releases stay premium. It keeps the service competitive without handing away Microsoft's biggest annual franchise on launch day. Whether that's a fair trade depends on how current your CoD tastes run — Cold War (2020) is still a well-regarded entry, but it's six years old.