Update: Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg has attempted to clarify the situation, although we still don’t have confirmation on whether games like Fable, Forza, and Everwild will launch on Xbox One. In regards to the title slates not listing the current-gen system, he stated, “Future [first-party] titles are developed for Xbox Series X first. Not saying those games won’t ship on Xbox One, only that we are leading with Series X & each studio will decide what’s best for their game/community when they launch.”
Future 1P titles are developed for Xbox Series X first. Not saying those games won’t ship on Xbox One, only that we are leading with Series X & each studio will decide what’s best for their game/community when they launch.
— Aaron Greenberg 🙅🏼♂️❎ (@aarongreenberg) July 23, 2020
Original story: Several of Microsoft’s first-party titles, including Forza Motorsport, Fable, Avowed, Everwild, As Dusk Falls and State of Decay 3 were listed as coming to Xbox Series X and Windows PC during today’s Xbox event. The title cards didn’t mention Xbox One at all, suggesting they could be skipping Microsoft’s current console in favor of a next-gen exclusive release.
At first glance this is a sign that Microsoft could already be flaking on the promise it made that you won’t need to buy the new Series X in order to play all first-party titles for two years. This could also mean that these major releases, all of which are being published by Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios, are more than two years away. We’ve reached out to Microsoft to see if this was an error in the title cards or if these games are indeed quite far from release. Forza Motorsport developers did say they were early in the development process so we shouldn’t expect a release date in the near future.
“Our future Xbox Game Studios titles are being developed natively for Xbox Series X,” Microsoft told The Verge in a statement. “We will continue to invest in tools for devs to scale across consoles. Which consoles each Studio/game can support will be based on what’s best for their game and their community at launch.”
The answer Microsoft provided isn’t completely clear. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has said that it’s completely up to Microsoft’s first-party studios whether they target both consoles or not. If these studios are targeting both consoles that could mean more than half of Microsoft’s next-gen exclusives showcased during the event aren’t coming out until two years after the launch of its new hardware.
The title cards for these games also didn’t mention Xbox Smart Delivery, a system that lets you play one copy of a game on either modern Xbox console. Microsoft has been more straight forward with how Halo Infinite, arguably the studio’s biggest upcoming exclusive, is supporting the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. We don’t have a specific release date for the shooter just yet, but we do know it’s coming this holiday season.
Be sure to catch up on today’s biggest announcements so far in the Xbox Games Showcase.