Rematch comes to Xbox Game Pass Essential on 25 September 2026

The football game from Sloclap and Kepler Interactive is now the 21st game added to the Essential library in 2026. Rematch originally launched in June 2025 and was already available day one through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

According to the available reporting, Rematch had also previously been added to Xbox Game Pass Premium, but the exact date was not included in the source material.

What happened

On 25 September 2026, Rematch appeared in Xbox Game Pass Essential. The addition was reported as the first new game for that tier since July 2026, marking a fresh expansion of the Essential catalog after a relatively quiet stretch. In the same reporting, Rematch was also described as the 21st title added to the Essential library since the start of 2026, underlining how quickly the catalog grew over the year.

Rematch is developed by Sloclap and published by Kepler Interactive. The game launched in June 2025 for PC and consoles, and it made its day-one debut in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. That means the title had already been part of the Game Pass ecosystem before arriving in the lowest tier in September 2026.

The supplied sources also say Rematch had already been in Xbox Game Pass Premium more than eight months before its Essential arrival. The exact date of that Premium addition is not given in the available information, so only the rollout order is confirmed, not the precise timing.

The 25 September 2026 update also included Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 for Xbox Game Pass Premium. That suggests Microsoft rolled out new content across multiple Game Pass tiers on the same day, although it is unclear whether the additions went live at exactly the same time or in stages.

Around the same period, Rematch also received an update tied to a collaboration with the Blue Lock manga. The sources mention that connection, but do not provide a full breakdown of the update. As a result, only the fact that the collaboration was active around the same time as the Essential release can be confirmed.

Background

Rematch is a football game from Sloclap and Kepler Interactive. The title released in June 2025 and was described in the sources as the 21st game added to Xbox Game Pass Essential since the start of 2026. That makes it one of the titles that cycled through the Game Pass ecosystem multiple times in 2026, first via Ultimate and later via Premium and Essential.

The Xbox Store also labels Rematch as optimized for handheld play. That is a store label rather than a gameplay claim, but it does show how Microsoft presents the game in its storefront. The available sources also mention a Blue Lock-related update around the same period, though without a detailed description of what it included.

The reporting on Rematch fits into a broader September wave for Xbox Game Pass, with Microsoft adding multiple titles across different subscription tiers. For Essential, the key point is that the tier received a new game after July 2026 and that Rematch was positioned as the 21st addition of 2026. For Premium, the notable detail is that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was mentioned on the same date, showing that the September update was not limited to a single subscription level.

Two points remain unconfirmed in the supplied sources. First, the exact date Rematch was added to Xbox Game Pass Premium is not stated. Second, the Blue Lock collaboration is not explained in detail. That leaves the factual core of the story focused on the Essential addition on 25 September 2026, the earlier presence in Ultimate and Premium, and Rematch’s place in the 2026 Game Pass catalog.

Sources

• Gamerant: Xbox Game Pass Essential added Rematch to its catalog on September 25, 2026.
• Gamerant: The addition of Rematch was the first new arrival to Xbox Game Pass Essential since July 2026.
• Gamerant: Rematch is described as the 21st title to join the Xbox Game Pass Essential library since the start of 2026.