January's Xbox Game Pass games are absolutely stacked thanks to Persona and Monster Hunter

Xbox Game Pass January 2023 line up
(Image credit: Xbox)

Xbox Game Pass will be getting not one, but two Persona games this month, along with Monster Hunter Rise

Announced on January 10, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 3 Portable, and Monster Hunter Rise will be joining Xbox's subscription service between January 19 - 20. All three of the new titles will be available on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X, as well as PC, once they've been added to the service. 

Following the addition of these two Persona games, Xbox Game Pass will now have three Persona games under its belt with Persona 5 Royal already available to play on console and PC. If you didn't know, Persona 4 Golden is an "enhanced" version of the original Persona 4 title from 2008 which was first released for the PSP. Now, 15 years later, it's about to be playable on Xbox Series X and Xbox One as well as Nintendo Switch, and PS4. 

As for Persona 3 Portable, as you may have guessed this game was another "enhanced" version of the main game specifically developed for the PlayStation Portable back in 2009. Just like Persona 4 Golden, a port of P3P will be available on Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PS4 on January 19 - the same day both games will be added to Xbox Game Pass. 

Lastly, we'll also be getting a Monster Hunter game on Xbox Game Pass, more specifically Monster Hunter Rise. This installment of Capcom's action-adventure series originally started life exclusively on the Nintendo Switch before being released on PC. Just like the Persona games above, it is now set to release on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One a day later on January 20, 2023. 

As with every new Game Pass addition, comes a few departures. A full list of the games leaving the service can be found on the Xbox website but to name a few, subscribers soon won't have access to Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Pupperazzi, We Happy Few, or Windjammers 2 by January 15. So if you were eager to play any of these games, you better get on it fast. 

Want to know what games we can look forward to this year? Find out what's going to be big in 2023

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.  

Read more
The two characters in Split Fiction dressed in fantasy gear each with a dragon on their back
2025's first standout GOTY contenders, Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and Split Fiction, are coming to GeForce Now
Cropped key art for Dungeons of Hinterberg, showing a red-haired girl sat polishing a sword while gazing off into the distance.
This action game's Zelda dungeons and Persona-style friendships stole my heart last year, and it's coming to PlayStation next month
Avowed screenshot showing hammer swinging at skeleton
Upcoming PC Game Pass games you need on your radar for 2025
Monster Hunter World
You can grab over 700 hours worth of Monster Hunter games, including Monster Hunter World, for just $24 before Wilds comes out
Persona 5 Royal screenshot
Sega outlines plan to "strengthen" Persona, Yakuza, and Sonic studios, says "Atlus is an important studio for us to expand Japanese IPs overseas"
A close-up of the Doom Slayer in the upcoming PC game, Doom: The Dark Ages.
Xbox Developer Direct kicks off 2025 with Doom: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, Clair Obscur, and a "surprise" fourth game
Latest in Action
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
Naoe looks over at a dense, lush, green forest in Assassin's Creed Shadows from a viewpoint
Getting Assassin's Creed Shadows on PS5 and Xbox Series X was all about adding "dynamism" to the open world, but the devs seem most proud about the trees
Naoe and Yasuke walk in the sunset in a screenshot from Assassin's Creed Shadows
Following Assassin's Creed Shadows controversy, Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director says "every big AAA game could be better," but players shouldn't be mad "just because some dude told you to"
Assassin's Creed Shadows Wanted Status
How to remove Wanted status in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Naoe kills a target with a black and white filter over the camera highlighting the red of blood spray in Assassin's Creed Shadows, with an On The Radar orange frame
Assassin's Creed Shadows "has a little bit of Tarantino flavor", but its real secret ingredient is intrigue: "It's almost like you're watching an episode of Shogun"
God of War
20 years later, God of War's original monster art has been revealed: behold this army of stick figures slapped on a whiteboard, no clue Kratos is coming for them
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"