If you followed yesterday’s livestream event celebrating the launch of the Xbox One/Windows 10 exclusive Halo Wars 2, you may have spotted Xbox head Phil Spencer making a quick appearance at the end of the show. The exec answered some interesting questions from Xbox’s Major Nelson, explaining that the upcoming lineup of Xbox games will quite different compared to the blockbuster games we had last year:
I think we got a really strong lineup this year. We don’t have a Halo FPS this year, we don’t have Gears this year, so it’s also an interesting year for us because we’re going through the year with releases that aren’t our traditional big franchises, but I think they’re going to do really well
You can watch the full segment below and learn more about Spencer’s gaming skills on Halo Wars 2, his thoughts about the popularity of the RTS genre and more:
Today, the exec also published a blog post on Xbox Wire to reveal more details about what he expects to be “one of the most exciting years ever for Xbox gamers.” First of all, Spencer promised that we would see even more exclusive games this year, including first-party games from Microsoft Studios:
Our studio partners at Rare, Undead Labs and Sumo Digital/Reagent Games are working hard to develop exclusive Xbox One and Windows 10 games this year, from new IP like Sea of Thieves to all-new chapters of fan-favorite franchises like State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3. Sea of Thieves is currently in technical alpha and is taking a community-oriented approach that lets players participate in the development process, and both State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3 are looking and playing great.
But let’s not forget about the ID@XBOX program, which is also expected to bring us several interesting games this year. “Between Cuphead – one of my personal favorites and an Xbox One console exclusive also coming to Windows 10 – and Below, Thimbleweed Park, Tacoma, Ark: Survival Evolved, We Happy Few and more, 2017 is shaping up to be an incredible year for the ID@Xbox program,” shared Spencer.
Phantom Dust and Voodoo Vince, two Xbox classics will also be re-released as Xbox Play Anywhere titles this year. the first will feature several gameplay improvements and support cross-play between Xbox One and Windows 10, while Voodoo Vince has been remastered with high quality visuals. The second game will also be released on Steam, explained the Xbox head.
“We’ll have more in store for you at E3 2017 in June,” added Spencer, and we expect Project Scorpio to be the main topic during Microsoft’s E3 press conference on June 11. Last but not least, we really invite you to watch the latest episode of This Week on Xbox today: the video is a must watch if you want to know what the creators of Halo Wars 2, Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, and more have to say about Xbox’s 2017 games lineup:
Do you expect 2017 to be a great year for Xbox and Windows 10 gamers? Sound off in the comments if you think the Xbox team is doing the right thing to push forward its gaming ecosystem.
