Xbox gamers are being treated to a blast from the past with the addition of a new Retro Classics category of games for Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft has announced. The Retro Classics catalogue will house more than 50 classic games from the 80s and 90s, letting you dive back into your youth like it was just yesterday. So pop a cassette into your Walkman, toss on some headphones, turn up the volume, boot up your Xbox, and enjoy some games from your childhood.
The new library of classic games is a partnership project between Xbox and Antstream Arcade. If you’re not familiar with Antstream Arcade, it’s a service that exclusively offers a wide variety of classic video games from the era of arcade machines. There are a lot of titles in the official Antstream Arcade catalogue, and although most of them won’t be part of this Xbox collaboration, some of the best ones will be.
Xbox Retro Classics will be available across PC Game Pass, console, and cloud
Whether you have PC Game or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you’ll have access to the Retro Classics titles. Microsoft confirms that this new offering is available to all Game Pass members, regardless of plan, wherever Game Pass is available. There is one exception, with Japan only having access via Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. All other Game Pass regions should also have access through Game Pass Core.
As for availability timing, the Retro Classics are already available, as Microsoft launched the suite of classic games on May 22. That means if you already have an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you can dive into these games right now if you feel so inclined. If you don’t have a subscription, you can easily sign up and gain access to all these classic games right away.
Microsoft also says that the more than 50 games available right now will expand over time. Eventually, it looks like the company’s goal is to have more than 100 games in the Retro Classics library. It says it’ll begin with Activision and Blizzard games first, which makes sense given the company now owns them and wants to promote their titles.
