If the first months of the year were quite flat in terms of the panorama Xboxthe second half of 2024 promises to be plentiful and enjoyable for all Green Cross players and Game Pass subscribers, with the arrival of many high-level first and third-party productions concentrated in relatively few months.
The inspiration for this little in-depth analysis came thanks to the latest tip from Tom Worren of The Verge, a source that has proven to be very reliable on several occasions, which revealed the potential release period of some of the big-name games from Xbox Studios scheduled for release next months. According to this lineup, the first dish to arrive will be Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion in September, followed by the new Call of Duty in October, Avowed and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in November and finally Indiana Jones and the Ancient Circle in December.
All rather credible information in my opinion, in line with Microsoft’s previous announcements during the Developer Direct in January, the words of Bethesda’s Todd Howard and the publication pace of the Call of Duty series. However, those listed above are only part of the rich menu planned for the coming months. In fact, barring unforeseen circumstances, the 2024 it will also be the debut year of Age of Mythology: Retold (already confirmed for this year on both PC and Xbox), the strategic Ara: History Untold, the multiplayer action RPG Towerborne and STALKER 2, arriving on September 5th as an exclusive time console.
There would also be a certain ARK 2, but although Studio Wildcard has repeatedly confirmed the release in 2024, the studio’s terrible habit of postponing the launch of updates and games, even at the last second, leads me to include it in this hypothetical list with some hesitations. Paradoxically, I would be more inclined to put my hand in the fire on a possible one Fallout 3 remaster an operation mentioned in Microsoft documents leaked last year in the lawsuit against the FTC and all in all plausible to ride the wave of the success of the Amazon Prime TV series.
Game Pass: will the arrival of Call of Duty be the litmus test?
The second half of 2024 could prove to be a very important test for PC and Xbox Game Pass. The quality of the service is indisputable and will undoubtedly continue to be so in the coming months with the entry of the aforementioned titles, but the number of subscribers has not grown much over the years (the latest update speaks of 34 million subscribers, including former Gold members).
However now Microsoft has a major wildcard as call of Duty, which could allow the subscription to make an important leap in level. Although it is not an exclusive, the next iteration of Activision Blizzard’s shooter series could arrive in the Game Pass catalog at launch (“could” as we have no certain information in this regard, but Phil Spencer’s statements from February are a good idea hope) and this could appeal to many players who perhaps have snubbed Game Pass until now, increase the number of subscribers on PC and bring obvious benefits on the sales side of the Xbox Series
At this point, to find out more we just have to wait for the Xbox Games Showcase scheduled for June 9th. The Verdicrociato event already seems appetizing considering the releases scheduled for the next few months, but as we know in the forges of Xbox Studios, other large and small caliber projects are also in the works, such as Fable, State of Decay 3, Everwild and Outer Worlds 2. And who knows, maybe some surprises will pop up too. We’ll see.
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial team and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
