Xbox has its best number of game releases since fall 2007
Just because I know this headline will prompt some of you to start typing in the comments section, you should know that this column is not about Xbox Exclusive. As we all know by now, these still drip rather than flow from Xbox Game Studios’ tap. But the pushback is mounting, and I’m sure I’ll write more about what comes next in a future column. Today I just want to focus on the games releasing for the Xbox Series X and S at the moment, this fall, exclusive or not. That’s certainly not the case for most of them, but that doesn’t make the following statement any less true: We’re in the biggest 90-day stretch of game releases since the Xbox 360’s historic fall of 2007.
This legendary run, which culminated on November 22nd with the Xbox 360’s second anniversary, featured an insane smorgasbord of games was Exclusive games: Halo 3, BioShock, Mass Effect, The Orange Box and Project Gotham Racing 4. Add in the multiplatform releases of Rock Band, Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and I’m honestly not sure whether we can ever top that. But Fall 2023, also called “Right Now,” will certainly do its best to try! Check out what’s come out recently and what’s on the way in the next few months:
- Armored Core 6: Fire of the Rubicon
- Sea of stars
- Starfield
- Lies from P
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- cocoon
- Assassin’s Creed Mirage
- Forza Motorsport
- Sonic Superstars
- Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol
- Ghostrunner 2
- Alan Wake 2
- Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Cleared His Name
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
That’s 15 big games over a period of about 12 to 13 weeks. There are more, of course, but I specifically chose the more popular releases, with the exception of Cocoon – which comes from a gameplay designer who worked on Limbo and Inside and just got a rave review on IGN – and Sea of Stars, which has already been published excellent reviews. Baldur’s Gate 3 is also expected to appear on Xbox Series X and S the end of the year. And if only they came out at a rate of about one per week, which is the average! But unfortunately, groups of them are crowded together, making it even harder to find time to play them all as everyone has their water cooler moment. On the bright side, at least Sea of Stars, Starfield, Lies of P, Forza Motorsport and Like a Dragon Gaiden have either already been released or are coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, making your potential financial outlay a little lower ( or, perhaps more likely, enabling you to get it more of these games this fall).
At this point, over the past few years, we typically saw developers and publishers, realizing that their game wouldn’t be ready to ship during the fall season, propose releasing it in January, February, or Spring of the following year. But that hardly happened this year. Everyone just releases their game and we have an El Niño-like storm of big blockbusters. Are any of us complaining? Crap no! But it sure would be nice to have an extra 12 hours a day to play them all. Still, it definitely surpasses last year. Remember how dry that was? Conversely, I think we will look back on fall 2023 with the same fond memories as fall 2007. Let’s enjoy the moment, shall we?
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Editor-in-Chief of Previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show. Podcast activatedas well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s called “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Join the conversation with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
