Back in 2017, Microsoft debuted its ambitious subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. For years, Game Pass was able to grow from strength to strength in peace, with virtually no competition to stand in its way. But in 2022,PlayStation Pluschanged all that. Sony released itsPS PlusExtra and Premium tiers, giving players a vast library of installable titles for one monthly fee.
Along with those more expensive tiers, Sony continues to offer itsfree PlayStation Plus monthly games, and the next batch has just been announced. PS Plus' July 2025 line-up is set to includeKing of Fighters XV,Jusant, andDiablo 4, the latter of which ironically goes to prove Xbox’s commitment to the wider gaming industry.
Diablo 4 Is One of PS Plus' July 2025 Free Games
Diablo 4 Hitting Xbox Game Pass Was a Big Deal
All the way back in January 2022, Microsoft announced its intentions to acquire Activision-Blizzard for an eye-watering $68.7 billion. Though this announcement caused a lot of heated speculation about what this could mean for the future of the gaming industry, one of the clear upsides for consumers was that the acquisition could lead toActvision-Blizzard games coming to Xbox Game Passin the future.
Since then, a few more Activision-Blizzard titles have come to Xbox Game Pass, and it’s usually a pretty big deal whenever they show up.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, for instance, set a new record for the number of launch day Game Pass subscriptions back in October 2024.
Xbox Continues to Stay True to its New Strategy
But while Activision-Blizzard is still a relatively new string to Xbox’s bow, it isn’t afraid to share.Diablo 4isn’t just one ofPS Plus' July 2025 free games, it’s the headliner of next month’s line-up. PlayStation users have obviously been able to buyDiablo 4since its June 2023 release date, but it’s still impressive to see such a big game being a frontrunner for PlayStation Plus' Essential tier, and even more impressive considering the game’s importance to Xbox Game Pass, a direct competitor to Sony’s subscription service.
Jusant, another one of PS Plus' July 2025 free games, was a day-one Xbox Game Pass title when it launched in October 2023.
About a year ago, Xbox announced a pretty radical strategy change. Previous first-party Xbox games would be hopping over to other platforms, and future first-party releases had the potential to join them. Xbox followed through on this plan, portingSea of Thieves,Grounded, andPentimentwithin weeks, and that strategy continues today, withGears of War: Reloadedbringing theflagship Xbox franchiseto PlayStation in August.
Xbox has continued to build on this multi-platform strategy with its recent “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign, which highlights the ways people can play Xbox Game Pass titles on their various consoles, PCs, and handheld devices.Diablo 4coming to PlayStation Plus is just the latest piece of evidence that Xbox really is focused on getting its games in as many hands as possible.
