With STALKER 2 delayed to the end of the year, the first few months of 2022 will be propped up by the Remedy-developed campaign for Crossfire X, Shredders, and the highly-anticipated Tunic. In terms of actual releases, however, it’ll be Bethesda–and possibly Turn 10–that picks up the slack and keeps the first-party content flowing.
This is also the year that Xbox’s internal teams will leave Xbox One development behind in favor of solely focusing on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Whereas E3 2021 came and went without a mention of Fable, Avowed, Hellblade 2, or State of Decay 3, there’s a fairly strong chance that gameplay for most if not all of those titles will premiere at E3 2022 ( if E3 even happens).
Though the platform’s most promising releases are still a year or two away, this is the year that we’ll likely see first glimpses of several of them. The Near Future of XboxĢ022 is an exciting year for Xbox. Making deals to continue bringing premiere AAA and indie titles to Game Pass on day one is going to be critical in filling the gaps between first-party releases, and seeing as the next one of those isn’t until summer, they’ll have their work cut out for them. Between Rainbow Six: Extraction, the Hitman Trilogy, Drinkbox’s Nobody Saves the World, and Spelunky 2, January is yet another killer month for the service. Of course, Game Pass isn’t showing any signs of slowing down either. As long as Microsoft keeps giving players a reason to come back regularly, all three of these titles should help hold players over during the typical early-year gaming drought. The first half is already in motion Halo Infinite has enjoyed two in-game events since launch, Forza Horizon 5 introduces new cars and challenges on a weekly basis, and even existing titles like Sea of Thieves have lengthy roadmaps laid out. In the immediate future, Xbox needs to do two things: continue to support these runaway successes with a steady stream of updates and secure exciting content for Game Pass subscribers. As of January 25, 2021, both titles have reached around 20 million players since launch.īoth Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 boast impressive player counts | Image: Klobrille Meanwhile, Halo Infinite’s campaign was released to general acclaim while its free-to-play multiplayer component has managed to maintain a healthy player base despite a less-than-stellar battle pass. Forza Horizon 5 exploded out of the gate to the tune of 10 million players in its first week and garnered the highest metacritic score for a new game in 2021. Though the Series X|S’s first year has been defined more by strong Game Pass gets and third-party support than first-party exclusives, the last few months saw monumental releases in two of Xbox’s most cherished franchises. Read on for everything you need to know about the state of Xbox in 2022.
With so many new Xbox/Xbox Game Pass owners, we figured now is the perfect time to lay out everything coming to the platform at present, in the near future, and in the far future. While many of Xbox’s heavy hitters are still a year or two out, the prospect of getting into the ecosystem has never been more enticing. Not only is it coming off one of the biggest holiday seasons in the history of the brand, but Microsoft’s commitment to gaming has continued to be solidified through consistent Game Pass gets and the recent Activision acquisition announcement. Halo Infinite had been delayed a year, the ink on Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda was still fresh, and there was no indication that anything from Xbox Game Studios (aside from Infinite) would hit before 2022 at the earliest.įast forward one year later, however, and Xbox as a platform is stronger than ever. The Xbox Series X|S had launched a few months earlier with a meager exclusive lineup bolstered by hastily-optimized third-party releases and the usual strong backwards compatibility support. At the start of 2021, Xbox’s first-party slate was an exciting but far-off fantasy. It’s crazy how much can change in a year.