2023 needs to be the year that’ll convince gamers to buy the Xbox Series X or S. The Series consoles are certainly powerful and is user-friendly due to the backwards compatibility, but it still needs more killer exclusives like Sony’s PlayStation 5.
We all know Redfall and Starfield are on the way to being released, and they are certainly the highlighted games so far, but there could be room for more.
Microsoft already announced some of its upcoming exclusives in the past year, but the question is: where are they? There are some games that definitely created excitement among Xbox fans, but Microsoft has yet to actually deliver the product to be playable for the fans.
This list is going to be composed of various Xbox exclusive titles that need to be released in 2023. I don’t expect all of these games will be playable this year, but at least two titles would certainly be wonderful. However, I believe asking at least two of games from this list to be playable is simply me fantasizing it.
Most of these games have already been announced through previous years, and they currently have no estimation of when they will arrive to being playable for Xbox fans. However, it is possible for developers to do a “surprise tactic.” They could do a full out marketing campaign and release the game at the same time in 2023.
They say Xbox has no games, but here are six games that can simply prove the critics are wrong if these games ever get released by this year.
State of Decay 3
State of Decay 3 has been in the shadows for a while even though its reveal trailer was shown back in 2020. It’s definitely time to see more of this zombie open world title, and see how much it can push the Xbox Series consoles. Not only that, it’s been a while since State of Decay 2 got its sequel. State of Decay 2 got mixed reception throughout the years, but I hope the third title will find its way to live up the quality of the original title to please their diehard fans.
Halo Infinite Battle Royale
Halo Infinite is simply a living live service since release, and there have been rumors that a battle royale mode could potentially happen. Certain Affinity, who is currently developing a new mode for Halo Infinite, has many fans believing the new mode is Halo’s take on the battle royale genre. This will be the first time the series will adopt a mode like this. Battle royales are certainly all the hype these days. According to Dexerto, Call of Duty’s Warzone has reached $30 billion revenue milestone.
Time will tell whether a battle royale will be the thing that’ll increase the game’s population similar to the multiplayer launch day experience. For now on, Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is very much of what you can expect for a Halo multiplayer if you’ve played them from previous games.
Wolfenstein 3
Somebody needs to remind MachineGames to put every other project on hold and finish up Wolfenstein 3. I am aware that they did announce an Indiana Jones project a while ago, but Wolfenstein 3 really needs some attention. Wolfenstein 2 was last released in 2017, and players haven’t been able to play as the iconic BJ Blazkowicz since then. Bethesda has already confirmed that a Wolfenstein 3 has been in development since 2018.
There was Wolfenstein: YoungBlood which felt more like a weird experiment than a full fleshed Wolfenstein experience. It’s about time players are able to play one of the most iconic first-person shooter protagonists, and experience some high quality single player mission design. With all of this mentioned, I hope Wolfenstein 3 comes out great, and maybe we can actually fight Mecha Hitler again, but in HD. The Wolfenstein games that were released by MachineGames aren’t exclusive to the Xbox’s ecosystem. However, ever since Microsoft bought Bethesda, it could possibly mean Wolfenstein 3 might be a timed exclusive for Xbox and PC users and down the line, the PlayStation users will be able to play it.
Contraband
Contraband is supposedly Xbox’s answer to making a cooperative driven open world game. However, there hasn’t been much information on the game since 2021 when Avalanche Studios revealed its trailer. Gamers currently have no idea how the game looks and plays. Avalanche does have a history of making the Just Cause series which has spawned multiple titles in its lifespan, and maybe the game will be right up its alley. With that said, there is a possibility Avalanche can just simply go all out on marketing and releasing the game in 2023, and if that is the case, let’s hope the game makes a good first impression.
Fable 4
Imagine if Fable gets a reveal date trailer and starts doing heavy promotion for this year. Xbox fans would certainly be in a treat when it comes to their RPG experiences because of this game and Starfield. Fable has always been an iconic series for the Xbox brand, and it’s been years where there hasn’t been any real or exciting news going on for the game. The chances of Fable 4 finally making its presence in 2023 is low, but it is something I had to put in the list because it would certainly create much excitement for Xbox fans and it’ll be awesome to be exposed through a lot of information about the game after years of silence. Xbox head Phil Spencer did say he wanted RPG games to be a heavy focus for the Xbox gaming experience, and hopefully Fable 4 will be that game to define that statement.
Perfect Dark
In the late 2020, Microsoft decided to make a reveal trailer for the third Perfect Dark title which seems to be a reboot. Just like Fable 4, after the reveal trailer, there have been many years of silence. No in game screen shots or gameplay videos shown. If in 2023 and Microsoft decided to surprise fans by releasing this game for this year, it would definitely create hype for Xbox fans and of course, Perfect Dark fans. This series is known for combining first-person shooter gameplay with espionage elements while taking place in a futuristic setting. Style points is one of the things that Perfect Dark knows how to deliver.
It’s been many years since Perfect Dark got a sequel. Perfect Dark Zero was actually a launch day title for the Xbox 360. Perfect Dark has been missing in action for so long. It’ll be really cool to see what direction the reboot version will take compared to the original and Zero’s core mechanics, but there’s a good possibility that the folks who are responsible for rebooting the Tomb Raider series will know how to reboot Perfect Dark.
With all of these games mentioned, hopefully Microsoft could could possibly make them available for us Xbox fans to play in 2023. Time will only tell.
