Originally published at: What to actually expect from Xbox in 2024 - XboxEra
What a year 2023 has been! We’ve seen the Xbox platform finally hit its stride, and have been inundated with games across a broad range of genres – and that’s just from first party! We’ve had action-rhythm surprises like Hi-fi Rush, first-person adventures with Call of Duty, Redfall and Ghostwire Tokyo, strategy titles like Minecraft Legends and Age of Empires, the return of sim-racing with Forza Motorsport and of course, epic RPGs like Starfield (the last of which was received very positively, despite the weird internet narrative that keeps trying to assert itself). That’s not to mention the bevvy of updates that have landed for Minecraft, Halo Infinite, Grounded, Sea of Thieves and more.
For many gamers, the backlog is frankly getting silly at this point, but whatever you’re into, there’s been something for everyone this year, and that doesn’t include the deluge of DayOne titles on Xbox Game Pass, or the many, many high quality third-party releases across the space.
With 2024 now ahead of us, it’s time to look forward once again to another banner year for the Xbox platform, where all of the incredible momentum they’ve rightly earned in 2023 carrying them forward with renewed vigour. Following the successful acquisition of ActivisionBlizzard, Microsoft now boasts over 30(!) first party studios, and a roadmap of titles that stretches well over a decade.
Today, our Xbox Roadmap went live, detailing titles we know are landing on the Xbox platform in 2024 and beyond. This will be continually updated, and is available to the Xbox community as a resource throughout the year.
You’ll notice above I referred to Xbox as a platform, and I feel it’s worth reiterating before getting into things, that this is exactly what Xbox is. If you missed the meeting, Xbox is no longer just about the console, and hasn’t been since 2017 – it stretches across PC, Mobile and Cloud, and as an Xbox-focused publication, we don’t cherry pick or lean into the ridiculous console wars nature of things. If that challenges your sensibilities towards your favourite plastic box supplied by your favourite mega-corporation, then I wholeheartedly recommend you head outside and touch some grass.
What we know for sure
Ara: History Untold
Landing on PC first, is Ara: History Untold. Led by a team of strategy veterans at Oxide Games (the folks behind Ashes of the Singularity) they claim Ara will be the ‘next evolution’ of Turn Based Strategy. It’s been in insider testing for a while now, and we’ll find out in 2024 if they are right. Much like Age of Empires IV, it appears the development team are focusing on getting the game right on PC first, with a console port to arrive later on.
TowerBorne
Developed by Stoic in partnership with Xbox Game Studios, comes Towerborne, tasking players to protect the Belfry, a “beacon of hope and safety amongst the ruins of humanity”. If you’re looking for something that scratches that co-op Castle Crashers itch, but with added depth, player customisation and incredible combat, you’d be wise to keep an eye on Towerborne. I got to try this out in person at Gamescom 2023, and I can’t wait to play more!
Avowed
Obsidian are true masters of the craft when it comes to Western RPGs, and Avowed looks to continue that trend. Avowed is a first-person fantasy RPG, set in the same game universe as Pillars of Eternity. Players can expect plenty of incredible quests, magic and mystery when Avowed launches at some point in 2024.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
The reboot of Microsoft Flight Simulator was a triumph for the genre back in 2020, bringing the entire planet to life with technology and an incredible game engine. This next iteration is designed to “take advantage of the latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming” to create the best version yet. While it’s not for everyone, Simulator fans are sure in for a treat when Microsoft Flight Simulator takes to the skies in 2024.
Senua’s Saga: HellBlade II
Developed by the incredibly talented team at Ninja Theory, this sequel to Hellblade has been a long time coming, having been first revealed alongside the Xbox Series X at The Game Awards in 2019. We’ve seen plenty of incredible footage since then, and we can finally look forward to getting our hands on the game in 2024.
Call of Duty (2024)
Still feels strange adding this to the list, but that’s right folks, Xbox own Call of Duty now. This years entry is rumoured to be Black Ops: Gulf War according to both Windows Central and Insider Gaming, with developers Treyarch leading the charge this time around. Interestingly, this years edition will be the first time a Call of Duty game has had a four year development time. Hopefully it’ll avoid another Modern Warfare III scenario at least!
What’s coming (exclusively) from 3rd Party?
While exclusives matter to a degree, as with any platform, third party releases are the true bread and butter of most gamers time – and with Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft will be keeping subscribers very well-fed throughout the year. So let’s dive into all the known releases that have at least some form of exclusivity to Xbox or Game Pass across 2024. We’d also love to get an update on the previously tested “Family Plan”, which is something many mutli-Xbox households would love to enable.
Currently slated for the first quarter of 2024, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl is coming from Ukrainian developers GSC Game World, who are developing a complex, open world FPS game while also fighting a war to defend their country. I played this at Gamescom 2023, and while it was in rougher shape that I would have liked, the heart of the STALKER series was well and truly intact. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this delayed again, because god knows making games is hard enough – it’s even trickier when you face being bombed.
Then we have Lightyear Frontier, also due around in the first quarter of the year – think something like Stardew Valley but with Mechs. Farming and building your own delightful homestead along side an overarching narrative, this looks sure to be a hit with fans of the genre.
The incredible looking REPLACED is also due along at some point in 2024, after being delayed also due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as developers Sad Cat Studios have rightly placed the safety and well-being of their team and developers in the region above shipping the game. We’d expect to hear more on this one soon enough.
33 Immortals, developed by Thunder Lotus Games, looks to take the roguelike genre by storm, as the first co-operative 33 player game in the genre. Players will take control of a damned soul and fight back against God’s final judgment, with all 33 players tasked with working together against hordes of enemies. Looks like good fun to me!
There are other games of course, like Hollow Knight: Silksong, MLB: The Show 24, Persona 3 Reload, Dead Static Drive, Nirvana Noir and Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn to name but a few of the many titles coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2024. And that’s not to mention the absolutely bonkers back catalogue of Activision games we imagine will arrive on on the subscription service in short order.
We also have to acknowledge just how many games are likely to receive sizable updates – Shattered Space for Starfield , Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred and World of Warcraft’s next expansion, The War Within.
Suffice to say, there is going to be plenty to play.
Things we suspect (and hope!) are coming
Now we get to the fun bit – pure, unadulterated conjecture! It’s got to the point now where Xbox has so many games announced and in development, that their roadmap itself seemingly stretches beyond a decade! And this is crazy to think about, because in console generational terms, we’re already into year 4 of the Xbox Series S and X – some of the already announced titles may already be targeting next generation hardware.
First of all, yes, we think we’ll definitely be treated to another Xbox Developer_Direct. The show from January 2023 was a tremendous success, providing a really good insight into all the games coming in the year ahead, as well as obviously the surprise release of Hi-Fi Rush. While we wouldn’t expect a shadow dropped game every time around, we do think the leads at Microsoft are on to a good thing with this peek behind the curtain and the format of the show itself was very welcome indeed.
Outside of that, this is all about 2024, so we’re only going to list the things we think will actually release this year.
South Of Midnight
While a date was never put against the incredible looking South of Midnight, we think it might be further along than one might think. Even though it was only announced at the showcase in the summer of 2023, Compulsion have been staffing up and working on the game since 2020. We actually think this is a smaller single-player experience (think something along the scale of Hi-Fi Rush), and as such, it wouldn’t surprise us to see more of South of Midnight, and maybe even a surprise release later this year.
Everwild
First announced way back at XO 2019, the story of turbulent development for Rare’s newest game, Everwild, has been widely reported on. From leaderships changes and even the entire development apparently being completely rebooted, and according to reporting from VGC, the team at Rare are targeting a 2024 release date. Will it land? Time will tell.
Contraband
Coming from Avalanche Studios in partnership with Xbox Game Studios, Contraband is a co-operatively focused “smugglers paradise” set in a fictional 1970’s Bayan. The trailer originally revealing the game back in 2021 suggested a focus on heists and general criminal enterprises, all set in an open world to plan and execute crime based shenanigans with friends. Avalanche Studios haven’t released anything since Rage 2 in 2019, so we think it’s high time for another adventure.
Forza Horizon 6
Now hear me out! Back in the before times, developers Playground Games were on a nice, efficient two year release cadence for the Forza Horizon series, releasing the first game in the series in 2012, then the follow ups in 2014, 2016 and 2018 respectively. Then we had a little global pandemic to contend with, and the latest iteration, Forza Horizon 5, rocked up for gamers everywhere in 2021. 2024 would mark 3 years since the last game, and as we’re all aware, Playground Games has two teams – one working on the return of Fable (Sorry folks, that’s a 2025 game at best) and the next Horizon entry.
Traditionally, Playground show off the game in a great demo sequence during Xbox’s Summer Showcase, with a release later that fall. Could the same happen again? It’s certainly possible. They may choose to make this entry available on Series Consoles only, and with over 30 million players on the last game, it might convince more than a few Forza fans to pick up a new console to boot.
The Future looks bright
And that is 2024 for Xbox, at least – so far. If you predominantly already “main” Xbox as your primary place to play (like us!), you’ve likely enjoyed a fantastic 2023, with the years of patience from fans being rewarded as the games finally started to flow at a very steady cadence.
I’m sure many of you are quite rightly asking – what about Perfect Dark? Clockwork Revolution? Outer Worlds 2? State of Decay 3? Indiana Jones? Maybe even a new entry to Gears of War? Well, it’s entirely possible we’ll see more gameplay for the first time for all of these at some point this year, but we don’t think any of them are likely to release in the next 12 months. But hey, look at all the cool stuff that’s still yet to come! Quite a turnaround from the Xbox One generation!
Now that the constant noise of the ActivisionBlizzard acquisition is behind them, 2024 looks to take all the positive momentum earned in 2023 and show a Microsoft finally firing on all cylinders. Phil Spencer has long stated their desire to deliver big games at least every quarter, and with so many teams, and with so much variety in genre and scale ahead of us, there’s never been a better time to be an Xbox gamer, no matter where you like to play.
