A year in review: Overall, Xbox's 2022 has been one of its best years ever

Nosotros are officially one year into the 9th generation of home video game consoles, with Sony's PS5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series Ten and Series South struggling to friction match supply with demand. Indeed, the semiconductor shortage is affecting tech products the world over, simply few seem to have hit the headlines every bit much as the 9th-gen consoles, which are heavy targets for scalpers in an era of scarcity.

2021 has proven one of Xbox's greatest yet, and is but a glimpse of things to come.

Microsoft launched its consoles confronting a backdrop of 2022'southward disastrous Xbox I console launch. More expensive while being less powerful, thanks to a bundled peripheral nobody really asked for. Microsoft would gradually plough it around for Xbox One over the years, but it never quite saw the resurgence the PS3 saw towards the ends of its lifespan, perhaps in part to Xbox's relatively bloodless kickoff-party games offering.

The Xbox Serial X|S marks a definitive page plow for the brand, with Xbox lead Phil Spencer'southward strategy now nearly fully implemented, and more showtime-party studios than always in platform history — this year has seen the first existent fruits of that labor, with the coming years promising to take more content than ever before, thank you to games like Starfield, Hellblade 2, and various others.

There have been missteps, and there are still bug to solve, but overall, 2022 has proven one of Xbox'south greatest however, and is only a glimpse of things to come.

The year of Xbox Game Laissez passer

Xbox Game Pass Source: Matt Brown | Windows Central

Xbox Game Laissez passer has been a thing for a few years now, but I'd say 2022 is the year it really started to make waves. Microsoft'southward nascent streaming service is how the firm plan to expand the Xbox footprint beyond the console, bringing gamers from PC and mobile platforms into the Xbox fold. Microsoft has a steep hill to climb yet still to concenter audiences outside of the console ecosystem, but they certainly managed to pick up headlines this year with some very powerful deals.

Microsoft flexed its checkbook with some very derisive additions in the bound, namely on the back of Outriders and MLB The Show. While the competition was only offering these games at the full $lxx toll point, Microsoft slipped them into Xbox Game Pass, which starts at $10 per month. MLB The Testify in particular was a potent point, given that the franchise is developed past its prime number competitor, Sony, and has up until now been PlayStation exclusive. Outriders didn't manage to achieve the long tail it was potentially capable of, perhaps due to Foursquare Enix's underestimations, simply it nonetheless managed to hitting quite loftier on streaming services and near-played games lists, cheers to its potent multiplayer component.

Throughout the remainder of the twelvemonth, Xbox Game Pass continued to bring quality releases to Xbox gamers, with the popular Hades roguelike, complete with bespoke bear upon controls on mobile devices. We also grabbed Psychonauts 2, over 15 years in the making, alongside a mount of games from EA Play's inclusion into the Ultimate tier of the service. We saw Football Director 2022 drib straight into Xbox Game Pass on PC, alongside unexpected additions similar Octopath Traveler, and classic Bethesda titles like Fallout 1, ii, and Tactics, with Quake one, two, and three: Arena for good measure.

Xbox Game Pass has a very strong ground of content already, and MLB The Show has proven Microsoft isn't shy to whip out the big guns to incentivize growth in the service. More recently, we picked up Halo Infinite, Historic period of Empires IV, and Forza Horizon 5, all of which launched to heavy critical acclamation, all of which are available every bit part of the $10 Xbox Game Pass initial fee.

The font of upcoming Xbox games is ever-growing, and the guarantee that these titles will hit the service day ane has created a recipe for success. Although, Microsoft may need more third-party back up if it is to ensure it has a steady cadence of headline-grabbing titles month in, month out. More studio acquisitions could also help plug the gap, and with rumors Sony is spinning up its ain competing service, get-go-political party content is increasingly important.

A console platform ready for success

Xbox Series S Source: Matt Brown | Windows Central

Xbox Game Laissez passer' fate is, every bit of right now, intertwined with the console platform that spawned the brand. Microsoft is casting its gaze back a couple of decades in a docu-series called Ability On, examining the success and failures of the Xbox entity up to this point. I'd say 2022 is certainly a high point for the brand, although information technology continues to weather choppy waters owing to the supply chain disruption.

Anyone who has attempted to buy an Xbox Serial X this past year knows full well how deficient they've go. Getting snatched upward near instantaneously the moment they hit shelves, Microsoft has been splitting up silicon between consoles and its Xbox server blades, which power Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. To that end, it has been the Xbox Series S — with its less exotic hardware — generating a surge in popularity in markets historically Xbox-skeptical, such as Japan.

While the Xbox Series S is nowhere near as powerful as the Xbox Series X, the play has proven itself to be very clever. Users can get a taste of side by side-gen features, such as faster loading speeds and amend frame rates, without having to hunt downwards or save upwardly for an Xbox Series Ten. It helps that the Series S is too incredibly small-scale and sleek in its blueprint profile, omitting the disc drive completely. While backward-compatible Xbox Series S games languish on Xbox One-manner restrictions, more and more games are existence built for the console natively, leading to a superior feel entirely than that of last gen.

Xbox Game Studios Buys Zenimax Media Bethesda Source: Windows Central

Thankfully, Microsoft's modern hardware solutions sidestep the dreaded RROD that plagued the Xbox 360, making up what have been, in my view, the greatest pieces of hardware Microsoft has ever produced. Merely consoles are no employ at all without swell games, and Microsoft has been working to plug that criticism likewise.

While announced in 2022, Microsoft completed its full acquisition of Bethesda in 2022, fashioning itself as one of the largest mega publishers alongside the likes of EA. Bethesda and its subsidiary studios similar Arkane, id Software, and Automobile Games are all legendary in their own correct, serving IP similar Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, and The Elderberry Scrolls. The acquisition also sees ownership of things like the id Tech engine, cloud streaming algorithms, and even VR patents, alongside popular mobile games similar Fallout Shelter and The Elder Scrolls: Blades.

While Bethesda's mark on the Xbox operation was relatively small-scale this year (in fact, Deathloop from its Arkane property was a PlayStation exclusive), it'due south looking like all of those time to come games will be hitting Xbox exclusively in the future. Starfield, Todd Howard's much-anticipated sci-fi answer to The Elder Scrolls, has been confirmed equally fully Windows and Xbox exclusive. Xbox fans can look the same from most of the ZeniMax properties too going forward.

Starfield Trailer Caps 2022 June Source: Bethesda

Having such a large sectional portfolio to look forward to is something that fans accept never really had earlier, outside of the Gears-Halo-Forza trinity.

Microsoft'southward first-party output has never been so strong, simply besides never so diverse. Titles like Psychonauts 2, Age of Empires IV, Flight Simulator on console, Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and many others garnered beefy Metacritic scores atop plenty of awards wins and nominations. There has been something for everyone, and that breadth of diversity and quality is only set to go along.

Yet bug to solve

Xbox dashboard Source: Windows Primal

In that location are aspects of the Xbox mission that have been a bit neglected while Microsoft tended to higher priority problems, and others that accept a chip of a legacy attached to them, and no longer make a lot of sense in the modern age.

At the start of the year, Microsoft indirectly hiked the price of Xbox Live Gold, making it impossible to buy a yr of service for less every bit used to be the case. The play was an endeavour to shift subscribers over to Xbox Game Laissez passer Ultimate, which includes XBLG as standard, and would've been by far the better-value choice for online play. However, it generated a backfire from people who simply don't want Xbox Game Pass. Given that Xbox Game Laissez passer doesn't have a family subscription tier, households with multiple members would've been severely out of pocket if this went ahead.

Xbox app Source: Windows Primal

Indeed, Microsoft is navigating something of a messaging crisis when it comes to its efforts to bring PC and console platforms together nether one spiritual roof. In the by, Xbox caput Phil Spencer said he'd never force console players to compete against PC players with mouse and keyboard, just we now come across that isn't the case, given that Halo Infinite has forced input mixing on PC and console.

Microsoft lifted the Xbox Live Aureate fee for free-to-play games online, simply the blurring of the lines between PC and console increasingly calls into question the Xbox Live Gilt fee, particularly in premium multiplayer experiences like Battlefield 2042, which merely added a crossplay-blocker after a fan backlash. Xbox Live Gold players have to potentially pay a fee for what is ultimately a degraded experience, playing against mouse and keyboard players while as well dealing with increased instances of hacker-compromised games.

Microsoft's increased attention on PC gaming has also generated questions. They've dropped the word "Xbox" from their PC Game Pass branding in an endeavour to differentiate and separate themselves from the console aspects of the brand, adjacent with a fairly cringy PC Game Pass ad information technology debuted at The Game Awards in 2022.

Yet, Microsoft isn't really showing a great deal of urgency in dealing with the problems the PC Game Pass app has, from sluggish speeds to poor mod back up, all the way upward to general usability. The Xbox panel platform itself is also struggling with some clunky and outdated features, from an inconsistent Game DVR recording experience. And the Xbox achievement system — in one case pioneering — has barely received any new features in years.

From increased cloud contest from companies like Amazon's Luna and NVIDIA's GeForce At present, and competitors eying their own Xbox Game Pass-like services, Microsoft has no room for complacency, even on the gritty details. Judging past their recent actions, I'd say Xbox is anything merely complacent right now.

No room for complacency

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Source: Matt Brownish | Windows Central

Indeed, Microsoft has no room for self-approbation right now. Xbox was simply ticking over before, but it is now in growth style, eager to capture nascent markets like cloud streaming while growing its own footprint in the PC gaming and console space. To that finish, Microsoft is spending more than e'er on its gaming growth, with premium hardware applied science and high-quality first-political party games, investing in new talent, edifice new studios, and acquiring long-time partners.

Information technology's nice to no longer have to wonder what Xbox would await like with Microsoft's total support.

The video game manufacture is probable set for tons of disruption in the coming years. Ubisoft has started implementing blockchain-powered NFT skin transactions into its games, encouraging players to spend tons of cash on in-game items with manufactured digital scarcity. Other publishers will no dubiety follow accommodate. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, sees a future where the worlds of the real and digital collide, which may force Microsoft to rethink its "wait and see" arroyo to VR gaming. If cloud gaming does take off for some of its competitors, Microsoft may be forced to ramp upwards its efforts in that space too. We've fifty-fifty seen Valve itself enter the console space this year, with their Nintendo Switch-like Steam Deck.

Xbox is faced with high-profile competition at every angle. Whether it's high-quality starting time-party games, cloud latency, or hardware superiority, Microsoft has shown it's willing to dip into its vast cash reserves to compete for the time to come of the gaming mural. In 2022, we started to run across the full force of what Xbox is capable of with Microsoft's total backing, and they're showing no signs of slowing down. If 2022 was great, I'm expecting 2022 to be even better — but i matter is for certain — it'south nice to no longer have to wonder what Xbox would wait like with Microsoft'south full support.