Xbox Series X games are slowly being announced – giving us an idea of what we’ll be playing when the system launches in late 2020.
There are only a handful of confirmed Xbox Series X games so far (many which are also on the PS5 games list) but it gives us a firm idea of what we’ll be playing around launch – as well as how Microsoft is handling exclusive Xbox Series X games and Xbox Series X enhanced upgrades for existing Xbox One games.
On this page:
We know several other things about Microsoft’s new console – including Xbox Series X specs, the Xbox Series X controller details and the Xbox Series X console design.
All exclusive and first-party Xbox Series X games confirmed so far
Though there won’t be any purely Xbox Series X exclusive releases from Microsoft’s first party studios in the coming years – see the end of this page for more details on why – all new games coming to Xbox Series X will make use of the more powerful hardware.
Here’s the first-party Xbox Series X games from Microsoft we know coming so far, as well as any exclusives from third-party or partner studios:
- Halo Infinite was announced alongside (what was then called) Project Scarlett during E3 2019, offering up a cutscene-heavy trailer. There a few other details aside from it being a “spiritual reboot” – but it will be a cross-generation title, launching also on PC and Xbox One, and will be available in 2020.
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- Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was unveiled alongside the Xbox Series X console design with an in-engine trailer, and is a sequel to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, from the now Microsoft Game Studios-owned Ninja Theory, which is “being built to leverage the full power of Xbox Series X”. See you can see footage 7:00 minutes into this video:
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- Scorn – an atmospheric first-person adventure developed by Ebb. An Xbox Series X console exclusive at launch, it will also be coming to Xbox Game Pass:
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That’s it so far. There are, of course, other Microsoft titles development which line-up with the Xbox Series X’s debut and beyond – such as Rare’s Ever Wild, Ninja Theory’s Project MARA, Microsoft Flight Simulator, DLALA and Rare’s Battletoads – which, though not confirmed for Xbox Series X, are all possible to each receive Series X enhancements.
Third-party Xbox Series X games list
Here are other Xbox Series X games confirmed so far which are also coming to other platforms – whether it’s PC, Xbox One or PlayStation 4 or PS5:
Cris Tales – Described as “a love letter to classic JRPGs”, this 2D drawn adventure has you use the past, present and future to shape the world around you.
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Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One: Developer Frogwares returns with an origin story for the famous detective, this time moving away from Victorian London to a Mediterranean-inspired island. Coming 2021.
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Dustborn – A storied, single-player action adventure from Dreamfall Chapters and Draugen Red Thread Games coming 2021.
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Resident Evil Village – Also known as the eighth title in the series, this keeps the first-person perspective of Resident Evil 7 and launches in 2021.
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Pragmata – A mysterious new game from Capcom coming to next-gen consoles in 2022.
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NBA 2K21 – The next instalment in the basketball series from 2K Sports is coming Fall 2020.
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Hitman 3 – IO Interactive sees Agent 47 return for the “most intimate and professional contract” of his career in the conclusion of the ‘World of Assassination’ trilogy. It’s releasing January 2021 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.
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Metal: Hellsinger – Developers by The Outsiders (the studio co-founded by former Battlefield 3 lead designer and Payday 2 director David Goldfarb), Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm FPS that’s coming to PC, Xbox One, PS4, and next-gen consoles in 2021.
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Chivalry 2 – Coming to PC, current generation and next generation consoles, this will support full cross-play between all platforms.
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Demon Turf – Developed by Fabraz, the developer of Slime-san, this is a 3D adventure also coming to Xbox One, PC and Switch.
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Paradise Lost – an “emotion driven mystery” from Polyamorous Games about a boy exploring a bunker in a post-war landscape. Also coming to PS5 and PC.
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Yakuza – Like a Dragon – This is an Xbox Series X launch title, also coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 with Smart Delivery support.
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Bright Memory Infinite – a first-person action game developed by FYQD-Studio. Also coming to Xbox One, it will feature ray tracing support on Series X:
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Dirt 5 – the latest in the long-running rally driving series from Codemasters, and will have Smart Delivery support with the Xbox One version , and up to 120FPS support on Xbox Series X:
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Chorus – A story driven, single-player space shooter published by Deep Silver. With Smart Delivery with the Xbox One version and ray tracing support on Xbox Series X, it’s dated for 2021:
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Madden 21 – The next entry in the annual EA sports franchise will feature an free upgrade offer from the Xbox One version, if purchased by December 31st, 2020 and redeemed by March 31st, 2021:
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Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a sequel to a fan-favourite published by Paradox. It offers Smart Delivery support with the Xbox One version:
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The Ascent – This co-op supported shooter from Curve Digital will have Smart Delivery support with the Xbox One version:
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The Medium – Blooper Team’s psychological game features the work of Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka and Arkadiusz Reikowski. Coming to PC and Xbox Series X in 2020, it will also be coming to Xbox Game Pass:
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Scarlet Nexus – A Japanese action game developed by Bandai Namco, with Smart Delivery support with the Xbox One version:
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Second Extinction – A three-player co-op shooter in a world overrun by mutated dinosaurs, offering Smart Delivery support with the Xbox One version:
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Call of the Sea – A first-person adventure mystery published by Raw Fury, this is coming to Xbox One with Smart Delivery support in 2020, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass.
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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – The latest entry in Ubisoft’s long-running series, which is teased to reshape the series’ brand of RPG storytelling. This is also another non-Microsoft ‘Smart Delivery’ game, giving you a Series X version with an Xbox One version purchase.
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Observer: System Redux – A next-gen remaster of Bloober Team’s 2017 science-fiction horror game, due out for release in 2020.
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Cyberpunk 2077 – announced as the first non-Microsoft ‘Smart Delivery’ game, purchases on Xbox One will be upgraded to an Xbox Series X version for free “when available” as part of the same purchase.
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The Lord of the Rings: Gollum – this game will follow Gollum’s adventures, as the evil influence of the One Ring and the remnants of Sméagol battle for his mind. Developed by Daedalic Entertainment, it will be released in 2021 and it was first revealed in the February 2020 edition of Edge.
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Outriders is a one-to-three player co-operative shooter created by Bulletstorm studio People Can Fly, set for release by the end of 2020.
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WRC 9 from Kylotonn will be coming to new consoles after debuting on PS4, Xbox One and PC in September.
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As well as the above full reveals for Xbox Series X games, other confirmations have also been trickling through:
- Upcoming Ubisoft games Gods & Monsters, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Quarantine and Watch Dogs Legion were mentioned as coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X in a conference call, as reported by gamesindustry.biz.
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Beyond that, there have been a lot of other studios confirmed to be working on Xbox Series X games – here’s a preview of which, in an image supplied by Microsoft:
Which existing games will be enhanced on Xbox Series X?
As well as the above new releases, existing games will also see Xbox Series X enhancements.
Though not confirmed in every case, expect many of these (particularly from first-party studios) will receive upgrades for free.
- Control – Remedy has announced that Control will be avaliable on next-gen consoles. Full details, including a release date, are yet to be announced.
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- GTA 5 – A next-gen version of GTA 5 and GTA Online will offer “a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements” when it launches in the second half of 2021.
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- Destiny 2 – The free-to-play shooter from Bungie will support 60FPS and 4K when it releases on next-gen consoles. Purchases from the Xbox One version will carry over to the Xbox Series X version for free, and it’ll be possible to play with Xbox One players with intergenerational crossplay. No date for the Xbox Series X version has been set. Until then, the new expansion, Beyond Light, launches in September:
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- Fortnite – Though Epic has yet to reveal how Fortnite will be improved on next-gen consoles, it will be available at launch running first on Unreal Engine 4.25 before transitioning to Unreal Engine 5 sometime in 2021.
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- Gears 5 will have a number of Xbox Series X upgrades available on the system’s launch, available free as part of Microsoft’s Smart Delivery initiative. “The developers worked with Epic Games in getting UE4 operating on Series X, then simply upped all of the internal quality presets to the equivalent of PC’s ultra, adding improved contact shadows and UE4’s brand-new (software-based) ray traced screen-space global illumination,” wrote Digital Foundry in a report on the upgrade.
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- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege will have a next-gen version, which will have cross-generation multiplayer. “For example, PlayStation 5 players can play with PlayStation 4 players, and Xbox Series X players can play with Xbox One players,” creative director Leroy Athanassoff explained.
- Warframe was announced as branching out to next-gen consoles in a financial report by Leyou Technologies.
Though not confirmed yet, there are bound to be many other first-party games – especially ones which see regular updates, such as Minecraft, Sea of Thieves and Bleeding Edge – which are likely to also receive Xbox Series X enhancements.
All Xbox Series X launch games on release
Here are the confirmed Xbox Series X games confirmed to launch alongside the console so far (the date of which has yet to be confirmed, aside from ‘2020’):
Beyond that, there have been few other announcements – though it’s possible some exclusive or first-party games will make the launch line-up..
Unconfirmed, but likely, Xbox Series X games
Xbox Series X game announcements are few and far between, but we can have some educated guesses of what will be coming to the system in the coming months and years:
- Starfield, Bethesda’s space-based role-playing adventure, is still a few years off and is a next gen game. It could, of course, be cross-gen with Xbox One, too.
- Elder Scrolls 6 is even further away from that – this is almost certainly bound for Xbox Series X than the new Xbox. Here are our educated-but-very-over-excited Elder Scrolls 6 location predictions, if you want more on that.
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- Countless yearly franchises, live service games and popular apps. Will Forza, FIFA, Call of Duty and Madden be coming to the new Xbox? Almost certainly. EA in particular has said (via GamesIndustry.biz) some games on current consoles will get free Xbox Series X and PS5 upgrades.
Interested in learning more about Microsoft’s next console? Learn everything you need to know – from confirmed Xbox Series X specs and features and the console design, size, dimensions and ports and controller, through to Xbox Series X games. The Xbox Series X will also support the ongoing library of Xbox Game Pass games.
Are there going to be any first-party Xbox Series X exclusive games?
Microsoft has said it won’t release any exclusive Xbox Series X games at launch from its roster of first-party studios – with big hitters such as Halo Infinite also releasing on Xbox One and PC.
“As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down that family of devices,” Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty explained to MCV.
Halo Infinite.
“We want to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [Series X] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content.”
This makes sense when you take into account Microsoft’s drive to see Xbox as more of a service – with many first-party games in recent years having cross-save and cross-platform play across Xbox One and PC.
It’s not to say there won’t be any Xbox Series X exclusives at all – Microsoft could leave it up to other publishers to make that decision on their own games.
Halo Infinite.
Microsoft games coming to Xbox Series X will see improvements of course, which will “take advantage of all the features” of the new system, with Halo Infinite teased as one of those titles.
“It’s the first time in over 15 years that we’ll have a Halo title launching in sync with a new console,” Booty said. “And that team is definitely going to be doing things to take advantage of [Series X].”
Tying into this is Microsoft’s Smart Delivery feature which, for supported games (such as Xbox’s own first-party titles) you only need to purchase a game once, and it’ll run the best possible version on the Xbox you own.
Third-party developers can also use this, allowing them to release Xbox One games with Xbox Series X upgrades down the line.
Expect more game announcements to come in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, if you’re looking for more information on Microsoft’s next console, we have pages on Xbox Series X specs, the Xbox Series X console design and the Xbox Series X controller.
