Xbox Game Pass Subscribers, Mark Your Calendars For August 31

Published Aug 19, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT

Bruno Yonezawa is a Gaming Senior Writer for Screen Rant. He's been practicing professional journalism for over 10 years, and is also a communications specialist. He's played games all his life and turned that passionate hobby into a passionate career, in an industry where he's worked as a writer, editor, analyst, and more.

August 31 is going to be a huge day for Xbox Game Pass members, as they are about to lose five different titles that they can currently play for free, including one major game that will represent a huge loss for subscribers. Microsoft’s gaming subscription service is constantly undergoing changes. New titles are added, while others are removed; this is the nature of the business model. Just recently, one of 2026’s best games joined Xbox Game Pass, letting players check out a huge contender for this year’s gaming awards.

Even though the service has been met with some pretty remarkable titles this year, including a ton of great RPGs, it’s also bleeding a part of its catalog every month, and August is no different. As per an official announcement on Xbox Wire, Microsoft revealed which games will be leaving the Xbox Game Pass catalog later this month – all of which are expected to leave the service on August 31. This is your final chance to play them without any extra fees or grab them at a discount so you can continue playing after they leave.

According to the official announcement, five games are leaving the catalog on August 31. The cartoonish underwater soulslike RPG, Another Crab’s Treasure, will be removed soon, as is the case with the FPS called I Am Your Beast. The highly stylized run-and-gun roguelike Neon Abyss is also set to leave the catalog at the end of August. One of the 2025 additions to Xbox Game Pass, One Lonely Outpost, will also be removed on the aforementioned date.

The biggest loss, however, is likely The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - Remastered Edition. The popular CD Projekt RED RPG will become unplayable via the subscription service on August 31. The Witcher 3 joined Xbox Game Pass earlier this year, in February, meaning that its availability has only lasted a few months. This may be because the game is set to receive brand-new content 11 years after its release, and the studio may want to increase sales of the game ahead of the DLC’s arrival.

The new DLC for The Witcher 3 is called Songs of the Past. Allegedly taking place in Toussaint, the setting of the Blood and Wind DLC, players will follow Geralt of Rivia on a brand-new adventure, which many fans speculate will serve as a bridge between the third core iteration of the series and the upcoming The Witcher 4. In addition to these five games, Xbox Game Pass is also losing NBA 2K26 on September 6, as per the official announcement.

These removals often have to do with contracts between studios and the publisher, as well as a means of opening up more space for new additions. The second wave of additions in August, for instance, includes Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy and the Game Preview for Vapor World: Over the Mind. Despite the losses on August 31, there’s a lot to look out for on Xbox Game Pass in August and September.