Xbox’s 25th Anniversary Was All Over the Place

2 hours ago Comment Views: 0

Patch Notes is Polygon’s weekly newsletter, featuring highlights from the site. It arrives on Fridays and is published online on Sundays. Subscribe to receive it in your inbox.

Xbox is turning 25. It has been another turbulent and painful year for Microsoft’s gaming platform, with a new leader, widespread layoffs, Halo moving to Activision, and the possibility of a next-generation console costing $1,800. Yet there are bright spots, too: Exclusives have returned, Gears of War is back, Call of Duty is good again, and Forza is bigger than ever. Surely it isn’t all bad?

Many people at Xbox may not feel much like celebrating right now. Still, a milestone birthday calls for some recognition. The Xbox team appears to understand that unrestrained self-congratulation would feel misplaced, while also acknowledging that fans—and the brand itself—deserve something to mark the occasion. A series of fan events began in Seattle this week, accompanied by a handful of announcements.

Xbox CEO suggests AI could play a major role in future games

Asha Sharma did not mention AI directly, but her remarks appeared to point toward a greater role for the technology.

More precisely, the announcements came from CEO Asha Sharma, who seems intent on making her personal X account Xbox’s primary public-relations channel. She began on an uncertain note with a muddled manifesto that appeared to gesture toward an AI-driven future for gaming. Fortunately, the news that followed was more encouraging.

Image: MachineGames/Bethesda Softworks

The announcements were modest, but welcome. Doom developer id Software is working on a new game. Given Sharma’s emphasis on major franchises, another Doom seems likely—and that would hardly be a disappointment. After all, few studios make Doom games better than id. According to Metacritic, the Doom: The Dark Ages expansion Revelations is the sixth-best game of the year. Doom may not have deep historical roots on Xbox, but its space marines, monsters, and extravagant violence certainly feel at home there.

A new game from the Doom studio and another Wolfenstein are on the way

Xbox shared encouraging news for fans of both franchises.

A new Wolfenstein is also coming, alongside new play modes for The Dark Ages and Halo: Campaign Evolved. Fans can explore a summary of their lifetime playtime, while Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and Minecraft are receiving free Xbox anniversary content. Those games are available on other platforms, of course, but that may be the point: Meet players wherever they are, and bring a little Xbox branding along.

New Fable gameplay trailer divides fans

The latest look at the fantasy RPG takes a noticeably darker turn.

Sharma also shared a gameplay trailer for Fable, the returning fantasy RPG series beloved by Xbox fans. Reactions were mixed. Some viewers found the trailer too dark and weighed down by exposition, prompting fresh worries about the game’s direction. That overlooks the colorful, whimsical footage Playground Games has already shown. Developers taking over a series created by someone else are often greeted with this kind of scrutiny, though it made for an unusual birthday-party atmosphere.

Image: Playground Games/Xbox

Microsoft also offered a nostalgic reminder of Xbox at its best. Its backward-compatibility team continues its work, bringing 25 more original Xbox games to PC. The selection includes enduring classics such as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, TimeSplitters 2, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It is a welcome reminder of how Xbox’s ambitious effort to make Xbox 360 games playable on Xbox One—an initiative Sony had no answer to—helped establish the standard for carrying game libraries forward across console generations.

It also brings to mind the Xbox 360 itself: a brilliant console that helped connect gaming’s walled gardens to the wider internet and gave the indie scene a powerful boost through Xbox Live Arcade. Xbox has contributed a great deal over the past 25 years. The present may be difficult, but it still feels right to wish it another 25.

Also worth reading

Comments - Cackle

Related articles