Highlights
- NBA 2K24 is coming to Xbox Game Pass later today, March 11.
- The PC version of the game that's widely considered as inferior by the fandom won't be added to Microsoft's subscription service as part of this library update.
- NBA 2K24 will be the 30th title to reach Xbox Game Pass in 2024.
Xbox Game Pass is adding NBA 2K24 to its content library later today, March 11. Unlike the vast majority of titles that make their way to the service, the latest entry in the NBA 2K franchise won't be available to Xbox Game Pass users on PC.
Microsoft's subscription library has added a combined total of 29 games since the turn of the year. The vast majority of those Xbox Game Pass additions were highly regarded titles like Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, which reached the service in early March.
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NBA 2K24 will mark a bit of a break from that pattern, not least because its critical reception has been polarizing, at best; with a Metacritic Metascore of 68 across all platforms, this is one of the worst-rated installments in the 25-year-old series. Player reactions haven't been much better, as underlined by the fact that NBA 2K24 is currently one of the lowest-rated Steam games of all time. One of the most common complaints among both fans and critics alike concerns an unprecedented amount of microtransactions that have been imbibed by nearly every aspect of the game.
All Xbox Game Pass Games in March 2024
- Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun - March 5
- PAW Patrol World - March 7
- NBA 2K24 - March 11
- Cloud and console only
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated - March 12
- Control: Ultimate Edition - March 13
- No More Heroes 3 - March 14
- Lightyear Frontier - March 19
- Game Preview
- Day-one release
- MLB The Show 24 - March 19
- Cloud and console only
- Day-one release
- Diablo 4 - March 28
- Open Roads - March 28
- Day-one release
NBA 2K24 still hasn't been added to Xbox Game Pass as of 7:30am ET on March 11, but is scheduled to reach the service by the end of the day.
But given the lack of contemporary alternatives to 2K's series, basketball fans will still likely want to give NBA 2K24 a go. Its arrival on Xbox Game Pass represents a perfect opportunity to do so, at least for console owners. Namely, unlike most new additions to Microsoft's subscription service, NBA 2K24 will only be available to console and Xbox Cloud Gaming users with an Ultimate-tier subscription. The reason for that might have something to do with the fact that its PC version is the same game in name only, as it offers fewer modes and less content, on top of its gameplay being near identical to last year's entry save for the addition of Mamba Moments.
NBA 2K24 will kick off what's going to be a busy week for Microsoft's gaming service; Xbox Game Pass is set to receive three more titles in as many days starting tomorrow: SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, Control: Ultimate Edition, and No More Heroes 3. Another four games have been confirmed to be arriving to its library in the second half of March.
Those include three day-one releases that Xbox Game Pass members can look forward to: Lightyear Frontier, MLB The Show 24, and Open Roads. Based on Microsoft's established track record with communicating its content catalog updates, it's possible that the company will announce another March wave of XGP additions around the 15th. As for the release at hand, NBA 2K24 is unlikely to remain on the service for long, as all past entries in the franchise that made their way to Xbox Game Pass have been removed from its library after no more than six months.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft's flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.