What to Expect From Xbox in 2025

I’m starting to consciousness for illustration Charlie Brown from The Peanuts comics, and Microsoft is nan Lucy who keeps pulling nan shot distant correct arsenic I spell to footwear it. Every twelvemonth I constitute this feature, and each twelvemonth I opportunity that this looks for illustration The Year™ wherever everything comes together for Xbox. Last year, successful fact, I specifically said, “Looking up to 2024, that affirmative momentum looks group to proceed and, pinch immoderate luck, snowball.” Microsoft arguably didn’t unrecorded up to that for nan first 10.5 months of nan year, pinch only nan visually-full-but-gameplay-empty Hellblade 2 dropping successful May aft galore years of waiting. But to nan big-spending publisher’s credit, it did extremity nan twelvemonth highly strong, dropping 3 exclusive bangers successful a row: STALKER 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and my perseorangan ballot for Game of nan Year successful 2024 and nan crippled that I deliberation is the champion Xbox exclusive successful years, Indiana Jones and nan Great Circle.

So, tin Microsoft support that affirmative end-of-2024 momentum going into 2025? Call maine Charlie Brown if you must, but yes, I genuinely judge that 2025 could beryllium Xbox’s strongest and astir bountiful twelvemonth since astatine slightest 2021, erstwhile it dropped Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, and Psychonauts 2. Let’s excavation into why I’m optimistic…

A Fountain of Fantasy and Firearms

Xbox’s 2025 kicks disconnected alternatively quickly and, from everything we tin tell, alternatively impressively pinch Obsidian’s first-person imagination RPG Avowed, owed to beryllium released connected February 18. This “Skyrim Lite” is group successful nan studio’s established and well-loved Pillars of Eternity universe, it’s expected to beryllium astir nan aforesaid meaty-but-not-gargantuan 25-40 hours agelong arsenic Obsidian’s astir caller first-person RPG The Outer Worlds, and it’s impressed america much and much each azygous clip we’ve played it, including quite recently.

Next, while it doesn’t person a patient merchandise day yet, id Software’s unexpected zag of a prequel, Doom: The Dark Ages, is almost a fastener for 2025. In fact, I’d wager an In-N-Out Burger luncheon that it drops successful nan first half of nan twelvemonth for 2 reasons: 1) Doom Eternal shipped successful March of 2020, meaning that successful conscionable a fewer months, it will person been a afloat half-decade since nan past Doom (which itself followed 4 years aft Doom [2016]). In different words, it’s time! Particularly since nan idTech motor is already firmly successful spot contempt nan jump to a caller console generation. And 2) I’d stake another In-N-Out luncheon that nan long- and eagerly anticipated reboot of Fable being cooked up astatine Playground Games – which, remember, comberan tagged pinch a 2025 merchandise model successful its Xbox Showcase 2024 trailer – is going to beryllium Xbox’s large Fall/holiday crippled astatine nan extremity of nan year. That intends Doom astir apt ships earlier nan holidays. But whenever it does – and retrieve that it’s already confirmed to beryllium a multiplatform merchandise connected time 1 – it’s astir apt going to footwear immoderate superior ass for Xbox adjacent year, judging by really bully id Software’s past 2 Doom games person been.

Back to Fable: successful my opinion, nan revival of Fable has higher imaginable – some critically and commercially – than almost thing other successful Xbox’s portfolio short of Call of Duty, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout. We’ve seen Playground’s return connected nan British-charm-tinged action-adventure-RPG a fewer times now, and each clip it’s been crystal clear that not only does Playground “get” Fable (it’s British itself, which nary uncertainty helps), but that nan crippled looks perfectly unthinkable arsenic well. Who knew that nan ForzaTech motor could render a jaw-droppingly beautiful imagination wood conscionable arsenic good arsenic a racetrack?

There’s 1 different immense logic to beryllium optimistic astir Fable, and that’s Playground’s way record. Simply put, this workplace has not only ne'er missed, it’s ne'er made thing little than a statement 9 retired of 10. Its past game, nan aforementioned Forza Horizon 5, was IGN’s 2021 Game of nan Year. And it intelligibly is being fixed plentifulness of clip to cook, arsenic Fable was formally announced successful 2020 pinch activity having already been done anterior to that. Microsoft knows it can’t fumble Fable a 2nd time, and I couldn’t beryllium much excited astir what has been shown truthful far.

Next, while it surely isn’t astir arsenic large a sanction arsenic Fable, we can’t hide astir South of Midnight, nan third-person action-adventure from We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games that’s leaning dense into nan folklore of nan bayous of nan Deep South. This one’s thing for illustration nan developer’s past games, which is admittedly riskier but besides much intriguing. Microsoft has tabbed this 1 for 2025, truthful see South of Midnight arsenic thing of a chaotic paper for adjacent year.

Another smaller-name Xbox exclusive that I deliberation everyone will beryllium talking astir if it comes together erstwhile it yet ships successful 2025 is Replaced. It’s a pixel-art, cyberpunk-styled side-scrolling action-adventure crippled that oozes style and, arsenic I discovered erstwhile I played it complete nan summer, is overmuch deeper than I expected. Replaced has nan imaginable to subordinate nan agelong database of legendary Xbox-exclusive indies that includes games for illustration Limbo, Braid, and Inside.

Finally, don’t hide astir Xbox’s existent biggest franchise (since they now ain it), Call of Duty. It’ll enactment connected PlayStation, of course, but Xbox fans will get it time 1 connected Game Pass. The 2025 Call of Duty is rumored to beryllium a future-set Black Ops 2 sequel, truthful possibly Treyarch is handling nan run connected this 1 aft Raven Software did a stellar job connected this year’s Black Ops 6 campaign. And nan other, overmuch quieter juggernaut successful nan Xbox portfolio, Minecraft, will astir apt get some kind of large in-game content, what pinch the Minecraft movie connected nan way.

What About Hardware?

Barring a 180 from Xbox leader Phil Spencer’s previous comments, Microsoft won’t beryllium pushing a mid-gen upgrade to nan Xbox Series X (an Xbox Series XX, if you will) successful 2025, if ever. And though a handheld Xbox is successful development, we’re improbable to play it aliases moreover spot it successful nan coming year.

So should we expect immoderate caller hardware successful 2025? Probably not – astatine slightest successful position of earthy horsepower. The Xbox Series S comberan a storage upgrade successful 2024, arsenic did nan Series X. And we’ll nary uncertainty spot a bevy of caller special-edition controllers and possibly moreover that upgraded controller codenamed Sebile mentioned successful nan FTC leaks from complete a twelvemonth ago, but 2025 does not look to beryllium nan twelvemonth for Xbox to driblet immoderate caller silicon.

Anything Else?

Rare’s Everwild appears to beryllium successful limbo and/or improvement hell, arsenic we haven’t seen aliases heard from it successful years. Might it reemerge successful 2025? Maybe, but I’m not holding my breath. Meanwhile, Halo is being reset astatine nan workplace level, which successful my sentiment intends nan adjacent Halo crippled is apt to either beryllium a reboot of nan franchise altogether aliases a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved. Either way, it’s going to beryllium built successful Unreal Engine 5, and it’s astir apt going to return a while. InXile’s steampunk RPG Clockwork Revolution was announced successful 2023 pinch a merchandise model of “coming successful owed time.” The Outer Worlds 2 has been revealed, and we now cognize it is coming successful 2025, truthful that intends Obsidian plans to vessel two first-person RPGs successful nan aforesaid year.

And speaking of first-person RPGs, will that rumored Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster really happen? How astir Contraband, from Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, which was successful nan 2021 Xbox Showcase and hasn’t been seen aliases heard from since? All we cognize is that it’s “a co-op smugglers' paradise group successful nan fictional world of 1970s Bayan.” Should it reemerge successful 2025, it’s improbable that it besides ships adjacent twelvemonth arsenic well, fixed nan accustomed PR/marketing cycles connected big-budget games.

The chaotic paper for 2025 is Double Fine, nan endlessly imaginative and versatile workplace headed by crippled creation fable Tim Schafer that is coming disconnected of 2021 Game Awards Game of nan Year nominee Psychonauts 2. I’d expect Schafer and nan workplace to denote their caller task soon, but arsenic to whether it really comes retired successful nan adjacent 12 months is anybody’s guess.

Finally, thing from this year’s Xbox Showcase that didn’t person a merchandise twelvemonth astatine nan extremity of nan trailer tin safely beryllium assumed to beryllium a 2026 (or later) release. That intends I’m not reasonably expecting to play Gears of War: E-Day, Perfect Dark, aliases State of Decay 3 successful nan adjacent year. And that’s OK! It yet feels for illustration Xbox is starting to pump retired not conscionable a dependable watercourse of first-party games, but a consistently good stream of them. This is what Xbox has been building towards since they first started acquiring studios successful 2018 to effort and hole their first-party games problem, and dammit I deliberation this is nan twelvemonth they yet do it. Please don’t propulsion that shot distant from maine again, Lucy-Microsoft.