As we’re now just a month away from the launch of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, the company has revealed a list of 30 games that will be optimized for the new console on launch day, November 30. This list includes existing games that have been enhanced for the new consoles, as well as cross-gen games shipping on Xbox One and next-gen Xbox consoles.
“The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will launch with 30 new games playable day one, 20 of them with Smart Delivery that are upgraded automatically and thousands of backward compatible titles across four generations,” the Xbox team explained. This is just the beginning, as several upcoming titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (November 13), Cyberpunk 2077 (November 19), and more third-party games should look and play best on the Series X.
Here’s the full list of Day One Xbox Series X/S Optimized titles that Microsoft announced today, which includes 20 cross-gen games that with upgraded automatically with Smart Delivery, and 9 games available for free with Xbox Game Pass:
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Smart Delivery)
- Borderlands 3 (Smart Delivery)
- Bright Memory 1.0
- Cuisine Royale (Smart Delivery)
- Dead by Daylight (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition
- DIRT 5 (Smart Delivery)
- Enlisted
- Evergate
- The Falconeer (Smart Delivery)
- Fortnite
- Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- Gears 5 (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- Gears Tactics (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- Grounded (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- King Oddball (Smart Delivery)
- Maneater (Smart Delivery)
- Manifold Garden (Smart Delivery)
- NBA 2K21
- Observer: System Redux
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- Planet Coaster (Smart Delivery)
- Sea of Thieves (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- Tetris Effect: Connected (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- The Touryst (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
- War Thunder (Smart Delivery)
- Warhammer: Chaosbane Slayer Edition
- Watch Dogs: Legion (Smart Delivery)
- WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship (Smart Delivery)
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Smart Delivery)
- Yes, Your Grace (Smart Delivery)
It’s worth noting that all games in this list will not support the exact same set of next-gen features. As an example, only select games will support 120FPS such as Ori and the Will of the Wisps, DIRT 5, or Gears 5 (only for the multiplayer modes). It’s up to the developers to choose how to leverage the power of Microsoft’s next-gen consoles, and many of them will likely provide different options for those that prefer higher fidelity over frame rates, and vice versa.
Halo: Infinite was expected to be the blockbuster launch title for the Xbox Series X/S, but the game has now been delayed to next year. Microsoft will have to rely more on third-party developers to do the heavy lifting, and the company does have a marketing deal with CD Projekt Red for Cyberpunk 2077. The latter is definitely one of the most-anticipated games of the year, and we can’t wait to see how it will play on Xbox Series X.
