High on Life Becomes Biggest Xbox Game Pass Launch of 2022

Creating hype since its reveal at Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase event, 2022 comedic first-person shooter High on Life from developer/publisher Squanch Games made its debut early last week on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Despite having mixed reviews regarding its humor, High on Life has become most popular game on Microsoft's monthly subscription service Xbox Game Pass now, just days after release and is biggest third-party launch in history of XGP.

According to latest Xbox report, High on Life is not only biggest Game Pass launch of this year, it was the biggest third-party debut and single player-only game throughout history of Game Pass based on hours of playtime since its launch.

Squanch Games studio director Mike Fridley claims that High on Life is their first title launch for Game Pass and is blown away by overall fan-response, currently outrunning Minecraft, FIFA 22, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite and lot more.

He further added that Squanch Games was created with a goal to make games that studio devs themselves would want to play and Game Pass is simply helping them reach out to players who want to enjoy these exciting games as well.

Being published independently through ID@Xbox program, High on Life broke and sets multiple new records. Other than having decent shooting mechanic, dev team took inspiration from few RPG mechanics and crazy slapstick comedy.

Since there are no Nintendo Switch or PlayStation versions out now, it is automatically an Xbox-exclusive. Moreover, High on Life came out in December, which generally is a slower month for new releases and much lesser competition.

High on Life also took advantage of AAA-games like Redfall and Starfield getting delayed to next year. Besides, it already had a built-in audience due to creator Justin Roiland starring in popular sci-fi animated show Rick and Morty for TV.