Xbox has had a lot of stop and start momentum over the last few years as I've talked about before. For every good piece of news there's been some bad news. If Xbox's 2024 Showcase is any indication, it sure feels like Xbox has finally turned the corner with the home run it just hit.
From the moment the show started with Call Of Duty Black Ops 6 until it ended with the reveal of Gears Of War: E-Day, it was clear Xbox was using this show to make a statement. The "Xbox has no games" tag line should hopefully never be said again after this Showcase.
Overall Xbox showed 30 games at its showcase, a mix of new first party games, updates on live service games and a collection of third party games, many of which are coming to Game Pass day 1. In fact of the 30 games 18 of them are coming to Game Pass day 1 and that doesn't even include the live service stuff already on the service.
Not only that but a lot of them are coming this year. A big part of the issues facing the growth of Game Pass is that the games have been too spread out when they do come. Sure Starfield or Forza Horizon might move the needle a little by themselves but a service needs constant big content. We have 6 months left in 2024 and if everything stays as is Xbox Game Pass has 7 big day 1 games with Flintlock, Avowed, Flight Simulator, Age Of Mythology, Indiana Jones and of course Call Of Duty Black Ops 6. That doesn't even include the updates and Expansions for Starfield and Diablo or smaller games like Dungeons Of Hinterberg.
That type of lineup is what convinces people that a service is worthwhile. Not one or two games at a time. And it would appear that the games don't stop coming. Doom, Fable and South Of Midnight are first party games already scheduled for 2025 with third party games like Atomfall and Claire Obscur:Expedition 33 also coming to the service in 2023.
That's right for the first time in what feels like a long time, Xbox appears to have a sustainable pipeline ready to fulfill that promise they made to try and have 1 major game per quarter. Fill that in with the third party stuff and they are on to something.
Last thing good about the show before we move to the slightly bad part and the 1 cloud hanging over Xbox's head. The pacing of the show was fantastic. It was just game after game and even the "lull" that naturally comes with every show wasn't really in this one. They did a perfect job of finding the right partners to fill the gaps and it just worked well.
More Release Dates Please?
The only real negative to come out of the show was a lack of a few definitive release dates. Avowed and Indiana Jones are slated for 2024 but wern't given a date. My theory is they haven't quite figured out how to spread things out just yet to let everything shine. It would be a shame to see Avowed of Indy not enjoyed by as many people because there's just not enough time between games. We will have to see what comes out of this.
That One Hanging Cloud
Of course we do have to talk about what Phil Spencer said after the show during an interview with IGN's Ryan McCaffery in which he said Xbox fans should expect more games to come to other platforms. Ryan didn’t press him on the comment any further so we don’t really know what that means. Doom and Call Of Duty are multi-platform so technically we already are seeing more games come to other platforms. Is that what he was referring to? More legacy titles and maybe the odd small game? Or is this a bigger plan where more and more games will come to other platforms. No one really knows, and to be completely honest I’m not fully sure Xbox themselves know.
But for now it’s nothing but positivity in the Xbox camp. They just had a great game in Hellblade 2 come out and they just had one of the best showcases in the entire industry this decade, and probably the best showcase they have ever put on. Well done Xbox.
