Xbox Game Pass Lost Celeste in a Net-Loss July

Xbox Game Pass dropped eight games on July 31, 2026, including Celeste and Crusader Kings III, two of the highest-rated titles in the catalog. The same wave pushed July’s removals to 18, against 16 additions, the first month in 2026 the library shrank.

Members got at least 20% off those eight on the Microsoft Store through the cutoff. After that date they were gone from console, PC, and cloud, unless someone had already paid for a copy.

Eight Games Left Game Pass on July 31

The Xbox app’s Leaving Soon tab carried the names, and Microsoft held the date. Whiskerwood, a cozy city builder that arrived in November 2025, was the late add after a mid-month list of seven. It was also the only PC-only exit in the group.

THE JULY 31 DEPARTURES

How Long To Beat’s ranges make the deadline problem obvious. Celeste’s main climb sits near eight hours. Crusader Kings III and Bannerlord do not.

Celeste Took a 92 With It

Celeste, the mountain platformer from Maddy Makes Games, held a 92 OpenCritic average, among the strongest scores Microsoft’s subscription library has carried. It had been on the service since August 2023. A two-week scramble can finish that game. It cannot replace what a 92 does for the catalog’s average.

Crusader Kings III sat right behind it at 91, and OpenCritic still ranks the dynasty sim in the 99th percentile on OpenCritic. Paradox Interactive shipped it as a Game Pass day-one title in September 2020. It left after 5 years, 10 months, one of the longer third-party stays the service has allowed.

The rest of the wave was thinner on critics and shorter on the service. Back to the Dawn and My Friendly Neighborhood both sat at 79 after a year. Sniper Elite: Resistance, on since January 2025, scored 73. Rain World, added in August 2025, scored 69. Bannerlord’s 76 came with a 3 year, 5 month run and a campaign clock that How Long To Beat stretches past 50 hours. Whiskerwood never got an OpenCritic average at all.

A 70-hour strategy game does not fit a two-week notice. People who treated Game Pass like a shelf learned, again, that it is a rental window with a calendar attached.

The Three Games That Left Twice

July’s first Leaving Soon refresh, in early July, already named My Friendly Neighborhood, Back to the Dawn, and Whiskerwood among the mid-month exits. Microsoft then pulled all three off that list, which made it look as if they would stay. They reappeared on the July 31 slate.

THE JULY LISTING WHIPLASH

1. Early July 2026: The Xbox app flags a large mid-month Leaving Soon batch that includes My Friendly Neighborhood, Back to the Dawn, and Whiskerwood.
2. July 3, 2026: Those three names come off the list, shrinking the July 15 wave.
3. Around July 15, 2026: Ten other games leave, bringing the month’s count partway to 18.
4. July 18, 2026: Paradox says Crusader Kings III’s Game Pass deal is ending and starts a Microsoft Store discount on the base game.
5. July 31, 2026: The eight titles, including the three that had been pulled, leave console, PC, and cloud.

The bounce made the second list harder to trust until the date actually hit. It also wasted the extra weeks some members thought they had on the prison RPG, the puppet horror game, and the mouse city builder.

Paradox Put a Price on the Save File

For Crusader Kings III, the catalog exit was a contract ending, not a quality call. The studio’s official account said the Game Pass agreement was done and pointed players at the Microsoft Store from July 18 through July 31.

We’re sorry to share that Crusader Kings III will leave PC & Xbox Game Pass on July 31. We know many of you have been playing this way, so the base game will be discounted on the Microsoft Store from July 18–31.

Check the link for more information.https://t.co/cNFHqThLLY

— Crusader Kings III (@CrusaderKings) July 18, 2026

We understand this may be disappointing, especially for players who have been enjoying the game through Game Pass.

Paradox Interactive, Game Pass player notice

The Paradox notice for Game Pass players is blunter on DLC. Bought expansions stay on the store where they were purchased. They do not launch unless the player also owns the base game. Anyone who stacked season passes on a Game Pass install had to buy Crusader Kings III itself before July 31, or the paid packs sat on the account unused.

That is the conversion the window was built for. A member who kept the subscription mainly for one endless medieval save, and who had already paid for the extras, became a base-game customer the day the license lapsed. Paradox discounted that SKU on Microsoft’s store and no one else’s clock, so the off-ramp ran through Xbox checkout.

July Posted the First Net Loss of 2026

Headcount for the month is the part the eight-game headline underplays. Catalog rotations through July 2026 added 122 games and removed 80, a net gain of 42 on the year and 38 more than the same stretch in 2025. July broke the streak.

THE 2026 CATALOG TALLY

June had already been thin, plus 2 after 13 removals. July went under water. Losing Celeste and Crusader Kings III in that month means the first shrinkage of the year was also a hit to the critic profile, not a clear-out of leftover sports entries and Game Preview experiments alone.

Ten games had already gone around July 15, among them PowerWash Simulator, Stellaris, Golf With Your Friends, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, EA Sports FC 24, and the Game Preview pair of Super Fantasy Kingdom and Techtonica. The July 31 eight then supplied the rest of the 18.

What Landed While Those Eight Games Left

Microsoft did not freeze the other side of the ledger. Megan Spurr, senior community lead for Xbox Game Pass, used the July 21 roundup to put Halo: Campaign Evolved on day one for July 28, on Ultimate and PC Game Pass, with cloud, console, handheld, and PC listed. That remake is the prestige incoming title for the same fortnight.

JULY ARRIVALS AROUND THE CUTOFF

• July 21: The Planet Crafter joins Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass as a terraforming sandbox on cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
• July 22: Shift at Midnight, Kwalee’s day-one detective horror set in a night-shift gas station, lands on Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
• July 23: Hell Is Us arrives on Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass.
• July 28: Halo: Campaign Evolved launches as a day-one Game Pass title.
• July 30: Mistfall Hunter, an extraction action RPG, joins Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Shift at Midnight is the horror arrival that lined up with the OpenCritic blurb about a day-one detective game. It is a co-op night at a gas station, not a replacement for Celeste’s 92 or for a grand strategy save that had lived on the service since 2020. July’s first Game Pass wave had already loaded the calendar with Gears of War: Reloaded moving onto Premium, plus day-one shots such as Ascend to Zero.

Volume was never the hole. July still added 16 games. The hole is which 18 left, and that two of the library’s highest OpenCritic scores went with them.

Members who bought during the 20% window own those copies now. Everyone else opened the app in August and found the mountain, the dynasty, and six other installs missing. July is on the books as the first 2026 month Game Pass was smaller when it closed than when it opened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Games Left Xbox Game Pass on July 31, 2026?

The eight titles were Back to the Dawn, Celeste, Crusader Kings III, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, My Friendly Neighborhood, Rain World, and Sniper Elite: Resistance on console, PC, and cloud, plus Whiskerwood on PC Game Pass only. Whiskerwood stayed in Early Access and never received an OpenCritic average, which is why its row in catalog trackers reads N/A.

Can Crusader Kings III DLC Still Be Played After Game Pass?

DLC bought on Xbox or PC stays on that store account, but it will not run unless the player also owns the base game on the same platform. Game Pass access to Crusader Kings III ended on July 31, 2026, so a member who only ever launched the campaign through the subscription has to buy the game to keep using paid expansions.

Did Celeste Leave Console and Cloud as Well as PC?

Yes. Celeste was pulled from console, PC, and cloud together on July 31, 2026, after 2 years, 11 months on the service. A purchased copy on the Microsoft Store keeps working; the Game Pass install does not.

Was the Member Discount the Same on Every Exiting Game?

Every title in the July 31 wave carried at least 20% off for Game Pass members through the cutoff. Crusader Kings III and Whiskerwood were cheaper still during the Xbox Summer Sale that overlapped those two weeks, which is why Paradox timed its Microsoft Store offer from July 18 through July 31.