Microsoft has spent quite a bit of money to acquire several game studios, and they are still in pursuit. With the eyes now focused on Activision Blizzard, the barracks for first-party studios under Xbox continue to expand. But now the head of Xbox Games Studios believes that Microsoft is finally in a position where they can release at least four major video games annually.
Recently Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Games Studios, was featured on a media panel. As reported by Gamesindustry.biz, Matt Booty spoke about how there were gaps within 2022. But now, the goal of hitting four major video game releases a year is looking good. That would be quite a feat for Microsoft as they continue to look at bringing out not only compete against the likes of PlayStation and Nintendo but continue to bring out thrilling video game experiences.
As mentioned, Matt noted that 2022 had gaps, but as they entered 2023, they felt good with releases like Hi-Fi Rush, Minecraft Legends, and some of their upcoming releases slated for the fall of this year. There are games like Forza Motorsport coming out and Bethesda’s next major video game release, Starfield, to get excited for.
In particular, there was even a major deep dive recently showcasing Starfield after yesterday’s Xbox Games Showcase. But things are only going to ramp up when 2024 hits. Just yesterday, we had the Xbox Games Showcase, which was a stream to feature a variety of thrilling gameplay experiences that are currently being developed either exclusively under Microsoft or third-party titles that will be released alongside the Xbox Series X/S platforms.
Some of these games highlighted at the Xbox Games Showcase, as noted by Matt Booty, are projects that were started up after Microsoft acquired the development studio, such as inXile’s Clockwork Revolution. Previously, we had seen video game projects released that were already in the works before Microsoft had acquired them, such as Arkane’s Redfall.
All in all, it looks like Microsoft is shaping up in a good position to allow a few major game releases to come out yearly. Of course, that’s unless there are unexpected delays that might push some of these projects further back than what Microsoft initially intended.
