Minecraft, Mixer and motoring: Xbox picks its top 10 gaming moments of 2017
At E3 in June, Xbox showed off the biggest and most diverse line-up of games it has ever announced. Many of those titles will be released in 2018, such as Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3. That’s in addition to all the ID@Xbox, cross-platform games and unannounced surprises still to come.
Looking back at the past 12 months, Microsoft released the Xbox One X – the world’s most powerful console – with the largest games line-up in Xbox history. It launched more than 1,300 titles and over 220 exclusives, including releases from Microsoft Studios, third-party publishers and innovative independent developers. More than 85 of those were specifically enhanced to take advantage of the power of Xbox One X. Xbox also offered new ways for gamers to access content, interact with spectators and participate in the game development process.
Here are Xbox’s top 10 games moments of 2017:
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Mixer brings new interactive game features for players
This year, the Mixer team welcomed a host of new streamers, expanded existing communities and added new ones, and made huge investments in new features like faster streaming and co-streaming. Communities, creators and game developers have embraced new experiences on Mixer, including Telltale Games using “Crowd Play” to enable the audience to control stream gameplay, or developers using new means of interactivity in Minecraft, The Darwin Project, Death’s Door and more.
Next year Mixer will release its new mobile experience, as well as even more interactive games.
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Minecraft becomes first game to unify players on PC, mobile and consoles
Minecraft broke down barriers this year. With the release of cross-device multiplayer in the Better Together Update, Mojang and the Minecraft team brought tens of millions of Minecraft players together to play they game they love – where they want, when they want and on the device they want.
Next year, Minecraft players can look forward to cross-device multiplayer on Nintendo Switch, a new world under the sea, a new graphics engine powering the Super Duper Graphics Pack and more.
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Independent developers drive innovation
Xbox launched the Xbox Live Creators Program in August and it now contains more than 100 games playable on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs. Meanwhile, ID@Xbox is now home to Cuphead, Thimbleweed Park, What Remains of Edith Finch, Aer, Fortnite, Tacoma, Ark, SMITE, Warframe, Rocket League, plus many more.
ID@Xbox fans can look forward to more great games next year, including Deep Rock Galactic, Battlerite, The Darwin Project, Black Desert, Full Metal Furies, Robocraft, Below, plus hundreds more.
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Original Xbox games join Backward Compatibility collection
One of the big highlights this year was bringing Original Xbox classics into the Xbox One Backward Compatibility programme.
In 2017, we added 136 Xbox 360, 13 Original Xbox and seven enhanced Xbox 360 titles, which helped contribute to the 740 million hours of Backward Compatible games played to date.
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Forza Motorsport 7 sets new bar
Over the years, Turn 10 Studios has worked hard to push Forza to new heights, and the pinnacle (so far) was this year’s Forza Motorsport 7.
In September alone, more than 7.9 million unique players raced in the Forza community. Next up is the Xbox One X Enhanced version of Forza Horizon 3, coming January 15.
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Age of Empires returns
Earlier this year, Xbox celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the Age of Empires franchise with gamers at Gamescom. The company also announced Age of Empires IV, and it is partnering with Relic Entertainment, one of the best real-time strategy developers in the world.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition launches early next year, and Definitive Editions of Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III are planned in the future.
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All the biggest multi-platform games are on Xbox
Xbox has worked with publishers and developers across the industry to enhance Madden NFL 18, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Call of Duty WWII, Destiny 2, Assassin’s Creed Origins and dozens more for the Xbox One X. Each of them have a combination of benefits such as faster loading times, higher resolution textures, HDR support or steadier framerates.
In 2018, a range of titles, including Monster Hunter: World, DragonBall FighterZ, Far Cry 5, EA Sports UFC 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2, are coming to Xbox One, with many enhanced for Xbox One X.
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Xbox Game Pass opens up a new way to play
The launch of Xbox Game Pass gave fans more options to diversify and expand their library of games, as well as discover new experiences.
It gives unlimited access to more 100 games on Xbox One.
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The biggest PC game of 2017 comes exclusively to console on Xbox One
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds took the gaming world by storm in 2017. More than 25 million players experienced PUBG on PC and console, and Xbox fans could enjoy its exclusive release on Xbox One as part of the Xbox Game Preview programme. The reception was phenomenal, with more than one million copies sold in the first 48 hours alone.
PUBG on Xbox One will continually receive content updates, including the new desert map, Miramar and optimizations.
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The most powerful console ever made launches worldwide
The reception from fans to the Xbox One X has been incredible, with Harvey Eagle, the head of Xbox in the UK and Ireland, saying demand for the new console was “really high”. Meanwhile, developers are taking advantage of the world’s most powerful console, with 4K Ultra HD, HDR, Dolby Atmos and other features and improvements.
The Xbox One X offers 40% more power than rival devices. Its six-teraflop engine and built-in supersampling gives gamers better textures, smoother framerates and faster load times, even on a 1080p TV. Players can record game clips in 4K at 60 frames per second and capture 4K screenshots. The console is so powerful that it will improve any game played on it. More enhanced games will be made available in 2018.