Six months into the yr, Xbox’s launch calendar is wanting slim. Contemporary off the heels of a fully 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 massive splashy advertising and marketing showcase about massive splashy video games on the horizon.
Midway by way of at present’s present—which provided 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 throughout the subsequent yr. 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 in the course of the present mentions Hiya Neighbor 2 and Lightyear Frontier as due out this yr. 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 can be definitely…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 yr.
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 an additional, the graphic additionally lists a number of third-party video games—like Gotham Knights and The Callisto Protocol—which can 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 variety of free-to-play video games among the many listing, 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 in the course of the showcase additionally counted Sea of Thieves’ seventh season on the listing.
The graphic additionally appears to point S.T.A.L.Okay.E.R. 2, presently being developed in Ukraine, has been additional delayed. (Developer GSC Sport World beforehand delayed the sport from an April 28, 2022, launch.) Although S.T.A.L.Okay.E.R. 2 is listed underneath 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 Sport World didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
One final statement: After Microsoft scooped up Zenimax, the guardian firm of Bethesda, for a gazillion bucks, a ton of ZeniMax’s portfolio grew to become out there on Sport Cross. Activision Blizzard’s largest video games on the horizon—Diablo IV, Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare II, and Overwatch 2—aren’t listed as deliberate titles for Sport Cross. (Overwatch 2 can 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 complete listing of video games deliberate for an Xbox launch in 2022, with video games concentrating on Sport Cross marked in parentheses:
- Naraka: Bladepoint (Sport Cross)
- The Elder Scrolls On-line: Excessive Isle
- As Nightfall Falls (Sport Cross)
- Forza Horizon 5: Sizzling Wheels
- Somerville (Sport Cross)
- A Plague Story: Requiem (Sport Cross)
- Valheim (Sport Cross)
- Warhammer 40K Darktide (Sport Cross)
- Grounded (Sport Cross)
- Fallout 76: The Pitt (Sport Cross)
- Overwatch 2
- Excessive On Life (Sport Cross)
- Scorn (Sport Cross)
- Atomic Coronary heart (Sport Cross)
- Gotham Knights
- Gunfire Reborn (Sport Cross)
- Persona 5 Royal (Sport Cross)
- Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare II
- Pentiment (Sport Cross)
- Halo Infinite: Season 3 (Sport Cross)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator: fortieth Anniversary Version (Sport Cross)
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Celebration Animals (Sport Cross)
- Slime Rancher 2 (Sport Cross)
- The Callisto Protocol
- Hiya Neighbor 2
- Lightyear Frontier
And right here’s the listing for 2023:
- Diablo IV
- Redfall (Sport Cross)
- Starfield (Sport Cross)
- Forza Motorsport (Sport Cross)
- Minecraft Legends (Sport Cross)
- Ara: Historical past Untold (Sport Cross)
- Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty (Sport Cross)
- S.T.A.L.Okay.E.R. 2 (Sport Cross)
- Flintlock (Sport Cross)
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Sport Cross)
- League of Legends (Sport Cross)
- League of Legends: Wild Rift (Sport Cross)
- Valorant (Sport Cross)
- Teamfight Ways (Sport Cross)
- Legends of Runeterra (Sport Cross)
- Ark 2 (Sport Cross)
- Resident Evil 4
- Persona 3 Moveable (Sport Cross)
- Persona 4 Golden (Sport Cross)
- Changed (Sport Cross)
- Ereban: Shadow Legacy (Sport Cross)
- Ravenlok (Sport Cross)
- Useless Area
- The Final Case of Benedict Fox (Sport Cross)
- Cocoon (Sport Cross)
We’ll test again in a yr.
