We lead with a September wave of Game Pass arrivals and removals, beginning with Shelldiver and a slate of new titles across multiple tiers and platforms.

The September lineup includes Shelldiver on September 1 for Console, PC, and Cloud across Ultimate, Premium, and PC tiers, with subsequent days bringing Moonlighter 2, Speedrunners 2: King of Speed, Dice a Million, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, The Royal Writ, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds to various platform and tier combinations.

Xbox Game Pass will remove The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on August 31, 2026, giving subscribers one last chance to play before the DLC arrives, and The Witcher 3 is expected to return later, likely after Songs of the Past launches.

In addition to removals, several titles will depart on September 15, including Spiritfarer, Commandos: Origins, Cricket 24, Cyberpunk 2077, Dead Cells, Deep Rock Galactic Survivor, Frostpunk 2, Mullet Madjack, Superliminal, and Train Sim World 5, marking the usual rotation.

The announcements fit into a broader 2026 roundup with related articles.

There is expectation that The Witcher 3 may reappear on Game Pass later, timed with new content to attract returning players.

Readers are invited to share which titles they’re most excited about in the comments.

Xbox Wire serves as the official source for the Wave 1 lineup, with links to additional Xbox coverage and community channels.

CD Projekt Red has targeted 2028 for The Witcher IV to ensure a polished launch and avoid past launch issues.

For players aiming to finish The Witcher 3, expect a lengthy main story—typically over 50 hours—according to standard time databases.

There is some ambiguity around platform specifics for Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage, with a possible further Wave 1 announcement around September 2.

The Witcher 3’s time on Game Pass previously ran about 193 days and included major expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.