Microsoft announced the Xbox Game Pass October 2026 Wave 2 lineup on October 20, and the headline addition is Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, which arrives in the catalog on October 29 for Cloud, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The wave covers eight games spread across October 21 to November 3. As of today, October 23, the Square Enix role-playing game is announced and scheduled but not yet playable through the subscription.
The Xbox Wire post was updated on October 22, so the lineup is current but could still shift at the edges. Game Pass waves sometimes move a title by a day or two. Treat the dates below as the official schedule, not a guarantee.
This analysis breaks down what lands and when, which plan unlocks which game, what the confirmed prices look like, and why a single Square Enix title carries more strategic weight than its slot on a monthly list suggests. If you are weighing a plan change, our guide to Xbox Game Pass tiers in 2026 covers the structure in more detail.
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Game Pass Wave 2 at a Glance: Eight Games in Two Weeks
Wave 2 runs from October 21 through November 3, a window of roughly two weeks. Based on the announcement as relayed by GameNewsPlus and Pro-Gamer, the confirmed schedule includes Sandustry on October 21, Dodo Duckie on October 22, The Séance of Blake Manor on October 27, three titles on October 29, and Pit of Goblin on November 3.
The three October 29 entries are Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted and Terrible Lizards. That mix follows the usual Xbox monthly cadence. One anchor name pulls attention, a couple of recognizable releases support it, and smaller games fill out the calendar.
| Date | Game | Status on Oct. 23 |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 21 | Sandustry | Date has passed |
| Oct. 22 | Dodo Duckie | Date has passed |
| Oct. 27 | The Séance of Blake Manor | Scheduled, 4 days out |
| Oct. 29 | Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade | Scheduled, 6 days out |
| Oct. 29 | Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted | Scheduled, 6 days out |
| Oct. 29 | Terrible Lizards | Scheduled, 6 days out |
| Nov. 3 | Pit of Goblin | Scheduled, 11 days out |
Two further items deserve a hedge. One report puts Scramble Knights Online on October 26, and an editor’s note on the Xbox Wire post says Mouthwashing was added to the coming-soon list after the ID@Xbox and IGN October 2026 showcase. Neither date showed up across enough sources to go in the table, so check the Xbox Wire post before planning around them.
The first wave of the month looked different. Xbox Wire’s October 7 post reportedly led with Battlefield 6 and Valor Mortis, and Deep Dish Dungeon was listed for Game Pass and PC Game Pass on October 13. Wave 2 swaps that shooter-heavy opening for a role-playing anchor and a handful of lighter games.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Joins Game Pass on October 29
The Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Game Pass listing is the main event. Xbox describes the game as a remake covering the original story through the escape from Midgar, with enhanced visuals, fast-paced gameplay and additional story content. It is slated for Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass, so all three paid plans named in the announcement get it.
The game is not new to Xbox hardware. The Xbox Store lists a January 22, 2026 release date, optimized for Xbox Series X|S, and Square Enix’s own portal announced that Intergrade was available on Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC. What changes on October 29 is the business model. Players who held off on a purchase can now play it for the cost of a subscription they may already hold.
What the Standalone Price Tells Us
Reports list the standard digital edition at $39.99 in the US and the Digital Deluxe Edition at $59.99, though those figures came from a single source and should be read as reported, not confirmed. If they hold, a new Game Pass Ultimate subscriber at $22.99 per month would spend less than the sticker price of the standard edition for a month of access. Whether that suffices to finish the game depends on playstyle, but the math favors the subscription for anyone who plays steadily.
The Series Context: What Comes Next
Square Enix has also announced a follow-up. Its portal lists Final Fantasy VII Revelation for April 8, 2027, on physical and digital formats across all platforms, and frames it as the conclusion of the story. It is announced but not yet released, and nothing in our sources says it will join Game Pass. Our earlier coverage of the series director’s comments on the Switch 2 return and what comes next explains how the multi-platform strategy took shape.
Why a Remake Matters More Than Its Slot on the List
Subscription services live or die on recognizable names. An unknown indie can delight a few thousand subscribers, but a Final Fantasy VII game gives Xbox a reason to run a marketing beat, a reason for lapsed members to return, and a reason for fence-sitters to take the $1 trial. Windows Central captured the mood with a headline saying the remake had completed its Xbox journey after years of hopes and dreams.
That framing reflects how much the franchise matters to the Xbox audience. Fans spent years watching the remake series from the outside, and the January release on Xbox hardware followed by the October catalog slot closes the loop for subscribers. For Microsoft, the symbolism is as useful as the content.
There is a caution, too. A catalog addition of a game that has been on sale for months can feel like a deal for subscribers and a revenue question for the publisher. The terms of the arrangement are not public, and no source we verified discloses the payment. That gap makes any claim about the deal’s financial impact guesswork.
The Rest of the Lineup: Blake Manor, Replanted and the Indies
The Séance of Blake Manor arrives first among the notable names, on October 27, for Cloud, Xbox Series X|S and PC. It is listed for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass. Kotaku’s coverage described it as last year’s best supernatural detective mystery, which gives the midweek release a hook of its own.
Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is the odd one out. It also lands October 29, but it arrives through EA Play, and the official listing names only Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Game Pass Premium is not on the list for that title. For Premium subscribers, that is the clearest example of how tier lines can cut across a single wave.
EA’s help page, a first-party source, sets out the basics of how Plants vs. Zombies Replanted plays. The standalone price is not confirmed in our sources. The reported $39.99 figure applies to Intergrade, so avoid mixing the two up.
Eurogamer’s monthly roundup tracks the second wave of October Game Pass games and the list of titles leaving at the end of the month. Departures are easy to miss. If a game sits in your backlog, check its expiry date before the month closes.
Which Game Pass Tier Unlocks Which Wave 2 Game
The official Xbox store lists four plans: Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, Game Pass Essential and PC Game Pass. The Wave 2 announcement names only three of them, Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass, for the headline games. Essential is absent from the access list, which fits its role as the entry plan built around online multiplayer and a smaller catalog.
| Game | Ultimate | Premium | PC Game Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| The Séance of Blake Manor | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
The plan structure itself has been moving. We covered the shift when Game Pass settled on four tiers, and again when a leak pointed to a six-tier split. The October lineup uses the four-plan structure, and nothing in the verified sources confirms a further change.
Game Pass Prices in October 2026: What the Store Confirms
Prices are where many roundups slip, so here is what the official Xbox store listings show as of October 23. Game Pass Ultimate costs $22.99 per month. PC Game Pass costs $13.99 per month. Both listings advertise a $1.00 trial for 14 days before the regular rate applies.
| Listing detail | Value | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $22.99 | Ultimate |
| Catalog size | 500+ games | Ultimate |
| Monthly cloud play | 15 hours | Ultimate |
| Rewards points | 4x | Ultimate |
| Monthly price | $13.99 | PC Game Pass |
| Catalog size | 50+ games | Essential |
| Monthly cloud play | 5 hours | Essential |
Ultimate’s listing also names Fortnite Crew, EA Play and Ubisoft+ Classics among its inclusions. Another listing in the same store family shows 200+ games, selected new games within one year of release, 10 hours of monthly cloud play and 2x Rewards points. That profile fits the Premium plan, though the page we checked did not label it explicitly.
The Premium price and the Essential price are less firm. GameNewsPlus reports Premium at $14.99 per month and Essential at $9.99 per month, but those came from one outlet and the official store snippets we pulled did not confirm Essential’s regular price. Check the Xbox store page before you buy.
Cloud Playtime Testing and Why Cloud Hours Matter
The wave landed alongside a separate cloud story. On October 21, Xbox said that Cloud Playtime became available for testing by Xbox Insiders. Xbox framed it as a test and not a final public policy, so no reader should treat it as a settled change.
It still bears on Wave 2 because each new title lists Cloud as a platform. Cloud hours cap how much of a given wave a subscriber can play without a console or a gaming PC. On the listed numbers, an Ultimate member gets 15 hours a month, which is enough to sample a lineup but not to play a long role-playing game start to finish. Xbox’s wording also leaves unclear how cloud-play eligibility relates to catalog inclusion for Intergrade.
If you do not own a Series X|S, our walkthrough on Xbox Cloud Gaming without a Game Pass plan shows what you can try for free, and the Quest and Horizon+ setup guide covers another route into Xbox’s cloud library.
Xbox’s Leadership Shuffle and the New XP Division
Wave 2 arrived less than two weeks after Xbox reshuffled its leadership. On October 8, Xbox announced that Kayleen Walters would move from Mojang to become President of XP, a new Xbox division focused on experiences around Microsoft franchises beyond games. The same announcement named Maria Angelidou-Smith as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft, with a start date of October 19.
None of that directly changes a Game Pass lineup. It does hint at how Xbox sees its subscription. Game Pass sits inside an effort to treat franchises as brands that stretch across games and other formats. A monthly wave led by a licensed Japanese franchise fits that thinking, because the draw is the name and not the platform.
The Xbox Wire post for Wave 2 lists Megan Spurr as Senior Community Lead for Xbox Game Pass. Our sources do not confirm other Game Pass-specific executive changes this month, and they do not confirm any price change, acquisition or retirement tied to the service.
How Game Pass Stacks Up Against Rival Subscriptions
A strong release calendar still defines the Game Pass pitch, and Ultimate’s listing leans on day-one releases. The competing services run on different logic. PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online sell their own mixes of catalog access and extras, and the right pick depends on which consoles you own. Our comparison of Game Pass, PS Plus and Switch Online puts the October 2026 prices side by side.
For PC players, the question is a little different. PC Game Pass at $13.99 competes with publisher subscriptions as much as with other platforms. If your library centers on EA and Ubisoft titles, it is worth reading how EA Play Pro, Ubisoft+ and PC Game Pass split the value, since Ultimate already bundles EA Play and Ubisoft+ Classics.
The Wave 2 case also shows the tension in cross-platform releases. Intergrade is available on Switch 2, Xbox and PC, which means Nintendo’s audience can already buy it. Game Pass has to justify itself on convenience and price, because exclusivity no longer does that job.
Historical Context: From Platform Gaps to Catalog Deals
Final Fantasy VII on Xbox was a long-running fan request. Windows Central’s coverage speaks of years of hopes and dreams, and the January 22, 2026 Xbox release ended the hardware gap. The Game Pass listing completes it for the subscription audience.
Game Pass itself has gone through several shifts. Plan names have changed, tiers have been split and re-merged, and the day-one promise has narrowed to specific plans. The rule worth remembering is that the headline price rarely tells the full story. What a tier includes today may not match what it included a year ago, so older articles often quote outdated plan names.
That is also why we label every figure in this piece by source. Where one outlet reports a price or a date and the official page does not confirm it, we say so. The Wave 2 lineup, the October 29 date and the plan names come from Microsoft’s announcement. The $14.99 and $9.99 plan prices come from a third-party report.
What This Means for Players Right Now
For a subscriber on Ultimate or PC Game Pass, nothing needs doing. The games appear in the catalog on their scheduled dates. If you are on Premium, you get Intergrade and Blake Manor but not Replanted. If you are on Essential, none of the headline Wave 2 games are part of your plan, so the wave offers no direct value there.
For non-subscribers, the $1 trial for 14 days is the cheapest way to test the service. A trial started on October 29 would run through November 12, which would cover Intergrade and the closing Pit of Goblin release. Read the trial terms before you sign up, since the listings say the regular rate applies after 14 days.
Other Square Enix news lands at the same time. Our roundup of Final Fantasy Resonance and its 87/100 critic score shows the publisher is busy in more than one corner of the franchise this month. Players who finish Intergrade on Game Pass may find a short list of other Final Fantasy options worth their time.
Market Impact: Microsoft, Square Enix and the Subscription Model
For Microsoft, the effect is mostly about retention and attention. A recognizable title gives marketing a clean message, and it gives Xbox social channels a week of conversation. We do not have subscriber figures for the wave, so any claim about a bump in sign-ups would be speculation.
For Square Enix, the picture is split. The company reaches a new audience on a platform where the game already sold, and it keeps the spotlight on the next release, Final Fantasy VII Revelation on April 8, 2027. The risk is cannibalization, because players who would have paid the reported $39.99 may wait for the subscription. That tradeoff is part of why publishers tend to time catalog additions well after launch.
For rivals, the lesson is about timing. Catalog deals work best when a game has already collected its full-price buyers. The Wave 2 schedule follows that logic, with Intergrade arriving nine months after its January launch on Xbox.
Five Predictions for Game Pass After Wave 2
These are our judgments, not confirmed plans, and none relies on figures outside the verified sources.
- Intergrade will headline the early November conversation. Expect Xbox to promote the October 29 release through the first week of November, and expect the next wave to lean on another recognizable name to keep momentum.
- More big publishers will follow. The Final Fantasy deal shows that third-party catalog titles can land on Xbox months after launch, and other publishers will watch how it performs.
- Tier differences will keep widening. The Replanted split between Ultimate and PC Game Pass versus Premium shows how entitlements are fragmenting. Expect more titles that skip one tier.
- Cloud limits will reach a decision point. The Insider test of Cloud Playtime suggests Xbox is working on how to handle cloud hours. A public rollout, a revision or a quiet shelving all remain possible.
- Revelation will become a Game Pass question. With the April 8, 2027 release set, subscribers will ask whether the finale joins the service. Nothing confirms it, and the answer depends on terms we cannot see. Our gaming coverage will track it.
FAQ: Xbox Game Pass October 2026 Wave 2
When does Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade come to Game Pass? Xbox lists October 29, 2026, for Cloud, Xbox Series X|S and PC. As of October 23, it is announced but not yet available in the catalog.
Which Game Pass plans include Intergrade? The announcement names Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass. Essential is not listed for the headline Wave 2 games.
How many games are in Wave 2? The announcement lists eight games between October 21 and November 3. Reports also mention Scramble Knights Online and Mouthwashing, so your count may differ depending on which outlet you check.
How much does Game Pass Ultimate cost? The official Xbox store lists $22.99 per month. PC Game Pass is $13.99 per month. Both show a $1.00 trial for 14 days.
Is Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted on Premium? No. The listing names only Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass for that title. It arrives October 29 through EA Play.
Will Final Fantasy VII Revelation come to Game Pass? Nothing confirms it. Square Enix lists Revelation for April 8, 2027, and the Game Pass question has no official answer yet.
Is Cloud Playtime a confirmed change? Not yet. Xbox made it available for testing by Xbox Insiders on October 21 and described it as a test, not a final policy.
