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Six months into the year, Xbox’s release calendar is looking lean. Fresh off the heels of an absolute hit in 2021Microsoft hasn’t released a single first-party tentpole in 2022. But that will all change, Microsoft assured viewers during today its big splashy marketing showcase about big lively games on the horizon.
Halfway through today’s show – the long-awaited gameplay reveals for much-anticipated games like starfield and redfall– Xbox boss Phil Spencer shared a graphic suggesting this 50 new games would come to Xbox within the next year. Xbox’s official social media feed tweeted a slightly modified version of the graphic after the showcase ended:
There are some minor variances between the two. The graphic aired during the show mentioned hello neighbor 2 and light year limit as is due this year. The graphic published on social media does not mention either and replaces these two games with Gotham Knights and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.
The picture doesn’t belie the Xbox lineup per se, but it’s populated with methods that are sure to be… curious. To be perfectly clear, Xbox, which counts more than two dozen first-party studios in its portfolio, won’t be making 50 games next year.
For one thing, Microsoft has included extensions here, including such ForzaHorizon 5‘s hot tyres Cooperation, The Elder Scrolls Online‘s Journey to the High Isle Kingdom and Fallout 76‘s foray into Pittsburgh alongside complete publications. For another, the chart also lists several third-party games – like Gotham Knights and The Callisto Protocol– which are developed independently of Microsoft. Sure, they’re coming to Xbox. They will also be available everywhere else.
Microsoft also included, even counted, a number of free-to-play games in the list Halo infinityis the upcoming third season. (Halo infinity‘s second season added some cosmetics, a handful of modes, and two maps to the shooter’s free-to-play multiplayer mode, which released last November.) The version of the graphics that aired during the presentation mattered Likewise Sea of Thieves‘ seventh season on the list.
The graphics also seem to indicate this STALKER 2, which is currently being developed in Ukraine, has been further delayed. (Developer GSC Game World previously delayed the game from an April 28, 2022 publication.) Although STALKER 2 is listed under the 2023 column of today’s chart, current store pages for the shooter say it’s set for release on December 8th, 2022. Representatives from both Microsoft and developer GSC Game World did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One final observation: After Microsoft bought up Zenimax, Bethesda’s parent company, for a gazillion dollars, a ton from ZeniMax’s portfolio became available on Game Pass. Activision Blizzard’s biggest games on the horizon –Diablo IV, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare IIand surveillance 2– are not listed as planned titles for Game Pass. (surveillance 2 will be free-to-play.) In April, Activision Blizzard shareholders approved with an overwhelming majority Microsoft’s takeover of the troubled studio on the GDP scale of a small European country. The deal still has to be approved by the authorities.
Anyhow, here’s the full list of games slated for an Xbox release in 2022, with games targeting Game Pass marked in parentheses:
- Naraka: Blade tip (game pass)
- The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle
- As Dusk Falls (game pass)
- Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
- Somerville (game pass)
- A Plague Tale: Requiem (game pass)
- Walheim (game pass)
- Warhammer 40K Darktide (game pass)
- Grounded (game pass)
- Fallout 76: The Pitt (game pass)
- surveillance 2
- high in life (game pass)
- contempt (game pass)
- Atomic Heart (game pass)
- Gotham Knights
- Gunfire reborn (game pass)
- Persona 5 Royal (game pass)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- Buses (game pass)
- Halo Infinite: Season 3 (game pass)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator: 40th Anniversary Edition (game pass)
- Hogwarts legacy
- party animals (game pass)
- slime breeder 2 (game pass)
- The Callisto Protocol
- hello neighbor 2
- light year limit
And here is the list for 2023:
- Diablo IV
- redfall (game pass)
- starfield (game pass)
- Forza Motorsport (game pass)
- Minecraft Legends (game pass)
- Ara: Untold story (game pass)
- Wo Long: The Fallen Dynasty (game pass)
- STALKER 2 (game pass)
- flintlock (game pass)
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (game pass)
- League of Legends (game pass)
- League of Legends: Wild Rift (game pass)
- Brave (game pass)
- Teamfight Tactics (game pass)
- Legends of Runeterra (game pass)
- ark 2 (game pass)
- Resident Evil 4
- Persona 3 wearable (game pass)
- Persona 4 Gold (game pass)
- replaced (game pass)
- Ereban: Shadow Legacy (game pass)
- raven engine (game pass)
- Empty room
- The Last Case of Benedict Fox (game pass)
- cocoon (game pass)
We’ll check back in a year.