Alongside the news that Halo Infinite has been delayed to 2021 and is no longer a launch game for the Xbox Series X, Microsoft has offered more info on what’s in store for its next-gen console’s launch lineup.Without specifying an exact release date for the Series X, Microsoft narrowed its launch window down from holiday 2020 to November for a global launch of the Series X. Microsoft has also promised that over 100 games optimized for Xbox Series X, either released across generations or developed exclusively for Xbox Series X, will be available before the end of 2020. We count 101 games confirmed for the Series X on our own list (including 2021 and beyond).
Microsoft’s Launch Window Plans for Xbox Series X
Here’s the breakdown of what players can expect from Series X before the end of the year:
- “More than 50 new games planned for this year across generations and optimized for Xbox Series X, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Dirt 5, Gears Tactics, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Watch Dogs: Legion. With Smart Delivery you only have to buy these games once to play the best versions for your console, across generations.”
- “New games developed exclusively for Xbox Series X and launching with Xbox Game Pass, including The Medium, Scorn, Tetris Effect Connected and more.”
- “More than 40 popular games newly optimized to take full advantage of Xbox Series X such as Destiny 2, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Madden NFL 21 and more.”
Players will of course be able to access Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X as well, allowing subscribers to download and play dozens of games for one monthly fee. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which combines Xbox Live and Game Pass, will also allow players starting in September to play more than 100 games from the cloud on Android phones and tablets via Project xCloud.
And of course, Xbox Series X will be supporting backward compatibility across all generations, meaning a library of games from the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One eras will also be playable on Xbox Series X. This means, as Microsoft has boasted before, that Xbox Series X’s launch lineup will have “thousands” of games playable at launch.