Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
After a year of Microsoft spending billions on development and publishing acquisitions, Xbox has a huge list of upcoming first party games. The move to purchase Activision Blizzard amid controversy was unexpected, but not entirely surprising after last year’s acquisition of ZeniMax. Xbox is the industry leader in subscription gaming with Game Pass, but many would argue that its direct rival, PlayStation, still wears the first party exclusives crown. Xbox is attempting to level the playing field, and considering all of its upcoming games, it just might have a chance.
Xbox is a long way from the glory days of the Xbox 360, which dominated console sales in its early years. The PlayStation 3 was more expensive (but did have a Blu-ray player), and took a while to flesh out its exclusives catalogue. Although the PS3 was PlayStation’s worst console generation, Sony picked up a lot of momentum and dominated the next match-up. The Xbox One fell far behind the PS4 in terms of first party offerings. Microsoft seemed content to build on the Xbox ecosystem rather than deliver the same kind of polished, single-player experiences players were finding on PlayStation.
Microsoft’s strategy seems to have at least worked in part, with consumers more than happy to recommend Game Pass to anyone who plays on an Xbox or PC, but now the company appears to be making its consoles a destination once again. Instead of acquiring studios with longstanding working relationships like PlayStation recently did with Housemarque and Bluepoint, Xbox has dipped into the expansive Microsoft coffers to purchase other games industry giants. Xbox became the home for many high-profile studios and game franchises after its ZeniMax Acquisition, such as Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield, id Software’s DOOM, and Arkane’s Dishonored, among others. Bethesda’s games especially are always very highly anticipated, and their Xbox console exclusivity is more than likely to wind up a determining factor in some gamers buying Microsoft hardware.
Xbox wasn’t satiated with the ZeniMax acquisition, though, and recently purchased Activision Blizzard for an astounding sum nearing $70 billion. As if DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout weren’t enough, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Call of Duty, are all Xbox properties now too. With large sums of cash, and likely a lot of legal paperwork, Xbox now confidently rivals PlayStation when it comes to first party exclusives. There are still many questions surrounding the acquisition – the largest one being: will Call of Duty become an Xbox exclusive – but it seems assured that Game Pass will soon be an even better deal than it already was thanks to the impressive, expected line-up of upcoming Xbox games.
Every Confirmed Xbox Game Studios Title In Development
Here’s the list of every known game to be in development at one of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios, with each title followed by the specific developer or developers:
- Avowed – Obsidian Entertainment
- Deathloop‘s Xbox port – Arkane Studios
- Diablo IV – Blizzard Entertainment
- Diablo Immortal – Blizzard Entertainment
- The Elder Scrolls VI – Bethesda Game Studios
- Everwild – Rare
- Fable – Playground Games
- Forza Motorsport – Turn 10 Studios
- Gears 6 – The Coalition
- Ghostwire: Tokyo (and later its Xbox port) – Tango Gameworks
- Grounded – Obsidian Entertainment (currently in early access)
- Halo Infinite co-op campaign and Forge – 343 Industries
- Indiana Jones video game – MachineGames
- Minecraft Legends – Mojang Studios, Blackbird Interactive
- Outer Worlds 2 – Obsidian Entertainment
- Overwatch 2 – Blizzard Entertainment
- Pentiment – Obsidian Entertainment
- Perfect Dark – The Initiative & Crystal Dynamics
- Project Cobalt – inXile Entertainment
- Project Mara – Ninja Theory
- Project Midnight – Compulsion Games
- Redfall – Arkane Studios
- Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II – Ninja Theory
- Starfield – Bethesda Game Studios
- State of Decay 3 – Undead Labs
- Wolfenstein III – MachineGames
The titles above that are simply listed under a project codename are included because they’ve been openly discussed, teased by their developer, or have even had concept art shared. There are plenty of other rumored projects left off of the list as well. Zenimax is apparently hiring for new IP, and a trivia game similar to 1 vs. 100 is returning to Xbox, according to Phil Spencer. There are also some pretty easy assumptions that can be made about ongoing series, such as Call of Duty, Forza Horizon, and DOOM almost assuredly getting another entry in the future, though none have yet been confirmed to be in development.
Xbox Game Studios’ Current Live Service Titles
Microsoft and Xbox also have a handful of live service games that are actively being supported. Those are as follows:
- Age of Empires IV – Relic Entertainment & World’s Edge
- Call of Duty: Vanguard – Multiple Studios under Activision, primarily Sledgehammer Games
- Call of Duty: Warzone – Multiple studios under Activision, primarily Infinity Ward
- Diablo III – Blizzard Entertainment
- The Elder Scrolls Online – ZeniMax Online Studios
- Fallout 76 – Bethesda Game Studios
- Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games
- Gears 5 – The Coalition
- Halo 5: Guardians – 343 Industries
- Halo Infinite multiplayer – 343 Industries
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection – 343 Industries
- Hearthstone – Blizzard Entertainment
- Minecraft – Mojang Studios
- Minecraft Dungeons – Mojang Studios & Double Eleven
- Sea of Thieves – Rare
- State of Decay 2 – Undead Labs
- World of Warcraft – Blizzard Entertainment
Microsoft Flight Simulator is also being actively updated, but its developer, Asobo Studio, is independent and does not fall under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella. Some on the list, namely Halo 5, The Master Chief Collection, and Gears 5, are expected to have their regular content updates cease in the near future. Especially with Microsoft’s various acquisitions, live service games may have their planned schedules altered. With all of the games Microsoft now owns from Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, and other development or publishing studios, the future of Xbox is exceptionally bright in terms of the sheer number of games that are on the horizon.
