Six months into the 12 months, Xbox’s launch calendar is trying slim. Recent off the heels of a completely banger 2021, Microsoft hasn’t launched a single first-party tentpole in 2022. However that’s all set to vary, Microsoft assured viewers at present throughout its large splashy advertising and marketing showcase about large splashy video games on the horizon.
Midway by at present’s present—which supplied long-awaited gameplay reveals for feverishly anticipated video games like Starfield and Redfall—Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed off a graphic indicating 50 new video games would come to Xbox inside the subsequent 12 months. Xbox’s official social media feed tweeted out a barely altered model of the graphic after the showcase ended:
There are some minor discrepancies between the 2. The graphic aired through the present mentions Whats up Neighbor 2 and Lightyear Frontier as due out this 12 months. The graphic revealed on social mentions neither, changing these two video games with Gotham Knights and Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare II.
The picture isn’t deceptive about Xbox’s lineup, per se, however it’s padded out with strategies which might be actually…curious. To be crystal clear, Xbox, which counts greater than two dozen first-party studios in its portfolio, is just not making 50 video games over the subsequent 12 months.
For one factor, Microsoft has included expansions on right here, counting the likes of Forza Horizon 5‘s Sizzling Wheels collaboration, The Elder Scrolls On-line’s journey into the Excessive Isle realm, and Fallout 76‘s foray into Pittsburgh alongside full releases. For one more, the graphic additionally lists a number of third-party video games—like Gotham Knights and The Callisto Protocol—which might be being developed independently of Microsoft. Positive, they’re coming to Xbox. They’ll be out there in every single place else, too.
Microsoft has additionally included a lot of free-to-play video games among the many record, even counting Halo Infinite’s incoming third season. (Halo Infinite’s second season added some cosmetics, a handful of modes, and two maps to the shooter’s free-to-play multiplayer mode, which launched final November.) The model of the graphic aired through the showcase additionally counted Sea of Thieves’ seventh season on the record.
The graphic additionally appears to point S.T.A.L.Okay.E.R. 2, at the moment being developed in Ukraine, has been additional delayed. (Developer GSC Recreation World beforehand delayed the sport from an April 28, 2022, launch.) Although S.T.A.L.Okay.E.R. 2 is listed beneath the 2023 column of at present’s graphic, present retailer pages for the shooter say it’s due out December 8, 2022. Representatives for each Microsoft and for developer GSC Recreation World didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
One final remark: After Microsoft scooped up Zenimax, the father or mother firm of Bethesda, for a gazillion bucks, a ton of ZeniMax’s portfolio turned out there on Recreation Go. Activision Blizzard’s greatest video games on the horizon—Diablo IV, Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare II, and Overwatch 2—aren’t listed as deliberate titles for Recreation Go. (Overwatch 2 shall be free-to-play.) In April, Activision Blizzard shareholders overwhelmingly voted to approve Microsoft’s small-European-country-GDP-sized acquisition of the troubled studio. However the deal nonetheless must move regulatory approval.
Anyway, right here’s the total record of video games deliberate for an Xbox launch in 2022, with video games concentrating on Recreation Go marked in parentheses:
- Naraka: Bladepoint (Recreation Go)
- The Elder Scrolls On-line: Excessive Isle
- As Nightfall Falls (Recreation Go)
- Forza Horizon 5: Sizzling Wheels
- Somerville (Recreation Go)
- A Plague Story: Requiem (Recreation Go)
- Valheim (Recreation Go)
- Warhammer 40K Darktide (Recreation Go)
- Grounded (Recreation Go)
- Fallout 76: The Pitt (Recreation Go)
- Overwatch 2
- Excessive On Life (Recreation Go)
- Scorn (Recreation Go)
- Atomic Coronary heart (Recreation Go)
- Gotham Knights
- Gunfire Reborn (Recreation Go)
- Persona 5 Royal (Recreation Go)
- Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare II
- Pentiment (Recreation Go)
- Halo Infinite: Season 3 (Recreation Go)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator: fortieth Anniversary Version (Recreation Go)
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Celebration Animals (Recreation Go)
- Slime Rancher 2 (Recreation Go)
- The Callisto Protocol
- Whats up Neighbor 2
- Lightyear Frontier
And right here’s the record for 2023:
- Diablo IV
- Redfall (Recreation Go)
- Starfield (Recreation Go)
- Forza Motorsport (Recreation Go)
- Minecraft Legends (Recreation Go)
- Ara: Historical past Untold (Recreation Go)
- Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty (Recreation Go)
- S.T.A.L.Okay.E.R. 2 (Recreation Go)
- Flintlock (Recreation Go)
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Recreation Go)
- League of Legends (Recreation Go)
- League of Legends: Wild Rift (Recreation Go)
- Valorant (Recreation Go)
- Teamfight Ways (Recreation Go)
- Legends of Runeterra (Recreation Go)
- Ark 2 (Recreation Go)
- Resident Evil 4
- Persona 3 Transportable (Recreation Go)
- Persona 4 Golden (Recreation Go)
- Changed (Recreation Go)
- Ereban: Shadow Legacy (Recreation Go)
- Ravenlok (Recreation Go)
- Lifeless Area
- The Final Case of Benedict Fox (Recreation Go)
- Cocoon (Recreation Go)
We’ll test again in a 12 months.
