Just because I know that headline will have some of you primed to start typing in the Comments section, know that this column isn’t about Xbox exclusives. Those, as we all know by now, are still dripping out of the Xbox Game Studios spigot rather than flowing. But the back-pressure is rising, and I’m sure I’ll write more about what’s next in a future column. For today, I want to focus simply on games being released for the Xbox Series X and S right now, this Fall, whether they’re exclusive or not. Most of them aren’t, certainly, but it doesn’t make the following statement any less true: we are in the single biggest 90-day stretch of game releases since Xbox 360’s historic Fall 2007.
That legendary run, culminating in the second anniversary of the Xbox 360 on November 22, included an insane smorgasbord of games that were exclusives: Halo 3, BioShock, Mass Effect, The Orange Box, and Project Gotham Racing 4. Throw in the multiplatform releases of Rock Band, Assassin’s Creed, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and, quite honestly, I’m not sure if we’ll ever top that. But Fall 2023, aka Right Now, is sure doing its damndest to try! Take a look at what’s come out recently and what’s still on the way in the next couple of months:
- Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
- Sea of Stars
- Starfield
- Lies of P
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Cocoon
- Assassin’s Creed Mirage
- Forza Motorsport
- Sonic Superstars
- Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1
- Ghostrunner 2
- Alan Wake 2
- Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
That’s 15 big games in the span of about 12-13 weeks. There are more of course, but I’ve particularly chosen the higher-profile releases, with the exceptions of Cocoon – which is from a gameplay designer who worked on Limbo and Inside and just got a glowing review on IGN – as well as Sea of Stars, which has already been released to excellent reviews. Plus, Baldur’s Gate 3 is due out on Xbox Series X and S by the end of the year. And if only they came out at a pace of about one a week, as that averages out to! But alas, groups of them are clustered together, making it even trickier to find time to play them all as they each have their water-cooler moment. On the plus side, at least Sea of Stars, Starfield, Lies of P, Forza Motorsport, and Like a Dragon Gaiden either already launched or will be launching directly onto Xbox Game Pass on day one, making your potential financial outlay a bit less intense (or, perhaps more likely, allowing you to get more of these games this Fall).
By this point in previous years, we’d typically see developers and publishers who’ve realized that their game isn’t going to be ready to ship during the Fall season push out into January, February, or Spring of the following year. But that’s hardly happened this year. Everyone is simply releasing their game, and we are getting an El Niño-like storm of big-deal blockbusters. Are any of us complaining? Heck no! But it sure would be nice to have an extra 12 hours in the day to play them all. Still, it sure beats last year. Remember how dry that was? Conversely, I think we’re going to look back on Fall 2023 with the same fond memories we have about Fall 2007. Let’s enjoy the moment, shall we?
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.