Xbox found itself with a fire in the rumour mill overnight. The Xbox Store began displaying icons indicating that Elden Ring, Soul Hackers 2 and Grand Theft Auto V were all bound for Cloud streaming via Game Pass Ultimate.

The rumour tore through social media overnight because, if true, it would have set an immense new precedent. Elden Ring is not currently available on Xbox Game Pass, nor is GTA V or Souls Hackers 2. Were they to become available on Xbox Cloud Gaming, they would be among the first big titles to bypass the Game Pass platform in favour of the cloud. Fortnite took the leap and went straight to Cloud Gaming in the last few months. Would these titles follow? Naturally, speculation was rife online as anything even tangentially related to From Software games sets tongues wagging. Elden Ring on Cloud Gaming seemed like a huge swerve. Could it be that some announcements set for Gamescom later this month had escaped into the world a little early?

The blaze in the rumour mill continued, right up until Xbox confirmed to Eurogamer that the ads had been “bugs” and had all been removed.

“We’re aware of a bug that incorrectly displayed some titles as available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer. “We rolled out a fix and this is now updated.”

A “bug” is a convenient explanation and is certainly plausible. The Xbox platform, its store, and even Game Pass are built on sprawling, complex systems. It would be very easy for erroneous information like this to slip through. On the other hand, Xbox has one of the biggest gaming trade shows of the year right around the corner, and accidental leaks most commonly occur in the weeks leading up to such an event.

Xbox will head to Gamescom 2022 at the end of the month with plans to provide updates on some of its most popular games.

David Smith is the editor of Kotaku Australia. A games journalist and industry observer for nine years, he has previously written for The AU Review and PC World Australia. He has appeared on ABC Radio, covered live events around the world, and is a regular guest on industry panels and podcasts.

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