What Are Xbox Game Studios Working On… A Look At Their Studios
2025 is here and that means we are taking a look ahead at what some of the biggest publishers in the industry are working on and what, if anything they are bringing to gamers in 2025.
Xbox is the first group off the rank this year and just to keep things simple, we are not including Activision or Bethesda in this, just those Xbox Game Studios… studios. The problem that Xbox have, yet again, is that they had a pretty shit year for games in 2024. Yes they released Indiana Jones and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, but those are two titles and one of them is a Bethesda game anyway.
In fact in 2024 the Xbox Game Studios group developed 3 new games and helped publish 2 more, which is a woeful effort. Now 2025 could be a much bigger year as right now we have Avowed dated for release, plus South of Midnight and The Outer Worlds 2 expected in 2025. Fable was also give a 2025 release date, but given its lengthy development time, I won’t hold out hope for that one just yet.
Xbox have hosted their Developer Directs at the start of the past 2 years and if that happens again this year, it should give us a solid idea of what the year might bring, but for now, unless something like Perfect Dark or Everwild gets a 2025 date, I don’t think we are getting anything we haven’t seen be given a release year.
Here are all the games that were published by the Xbox Game Studios group in 2024, with those bolded titles being original releases:
Pentiment - Switch | PlayStation
Grounded - Switch | PlayStation
Sea of Thieves - PlayStation 5
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - Xbox Series X|S | PC
Age of Mythology: Retold - Xbox Series X|S | PC
Ara: History Untold - PC
Age of Empires Mobile - iOS, Android
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 - Xbox Series X|S | PC
For now though, here are all the studios under the Xbox Game Studios banner, along with some partnerships as well.
The Coalition
Last Game Released: Gears 5 | Series: Gears of War series
Last year I said that 2024 needed to be the year we at least heard what The Coalition was working on and that was proved to be a good call, as we learnt about Gears of War: E-Day. Now since that reveal in June 2024, the studio has been very quiet on what is going on with the game, even the rumours are somewhat sparse. The developers have said that the new game, which is a prequel to the original, will offer up more than 100 times the detail that was seen in Gears 5, which already looked somewhat incredible.
The problem is, that is really all we know. The team has teased that multiplayer will be coming to the game, but no details on how, heck we don’t even have a release window. The games reveal trailer, which is below, was made up with Unreal Engine 5, but it was crafted by the folks at Blur Studios, so while in-engine it is not in-game. Which means the release could be this year or more than likely 2026. But don’t worry about the lack of Gears content, as the Netflix works are still happening, at least for now. The Netflix deal consists of a live-action movie and a follow-up adult animated series, the problem right now is that its been 2 years since they were announced and nothing further has come out. The studio isn’t looking to fill a lot of roles, so they are likely working away, but outside of a new trailer this year, I wouldn’t expect anything more for the Gears of War series in 2025.
Compulsion Games
Last Game Released: We Happy Few | Series: Contrast
Just a few months before the full release of We Happy Few, Xbox snapped up Compulsion Games and while the team created the expansion for the game as planned, it wouldn’t be until 2023 that we learnt about South of Midnight. The game would go quiet again for another 12 months, before we got a proper gameplay reveal in 2024, but the studio was not done. In November 2024, we got a 30 minute documentary about the game, and just as we were writing this a short clip was released.
So where does that leave us right now, honestly it is hard to say. The game is still dated for a 2025 release, but the last confirmation of that was in June 2024 and while things change, there has been nothing to state this has slipped. If the game is shipping in the first half of the year, then I expect we will hear a lot about this game soon, perhaps via the Xbox Developer Direct; if that happens this year of course. If the game is a late 2025 release, then I would imagine we will see it in June.
Double Fine Productions
Last Game Released: Psychonauts 2 | Series: Psychonauts series, Brutal Legend, Broken Age
We are now three and a half years since the release of Psychonauts 2 and the most we have heard from the studio is with their now twice a year Day of the Devs celebration. While a lot of fans would like to see a third entry in the Psychonauts series, the studio had no plans as of a few months ago, but in that same video its revealed that the team have been working on new games.
Now the new games are not publicly known, Tim Schafer the studio founder and I am told, pretty swell guy, is working away on something, but Lee Petty is apparently leading a team on something new as well. The issue with this studio is that as they tend to be all about completely original ideas from Brutal Legend to RAD, Stacking to Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, there is no way of telling what we are getting from them next. The studio is not massive, just under 100 if reports are true and while they are all talented, they can’t make multiple games at once. If I were to guess and that is what I do here, I would like to think that the game from Petty will be revealed soon and will hit most platforms upon its release this year and the title from Schafer would be a 2026 title.
Halo Studios
Last Game Released: Halo Infinite | Series: Halo series
When Halo Infinite released back in 2021, alongside it came a promise of a lot of content like a 2-player couch co-op mode and much more, very little of those promises have been delivered over the years. While the studio has kept content coming, they had a lot of challenges with the new game engine that Infinite was built upon, which is why in 2024 the studio rebranded from 343 Industries to Halo Studios and revealed the next Halo game would be made in Unreal Engine 5.
That news also came with confirmation of Project Foundry, a new multi-discipline research project, designed to let the studio create new ways for players to enjoy the worlds of Halo. Now the days are early for this project, but we do have some tidbits that we can share. First is that the studio is expanding, which seems like a slap in the face to all the folks let go in 2023, but that is what happens. The studio is looking to fill roles, at the time of writing at least, for Game Systems, Narrative Systems and Senior Technical designers, which is not something you would need for a testing period. For a little bit of extra comfort, Michael Schorr, who fans will know as the Forge Lead Designer - he made sure that features designed were released and worked, has been bumped up to Lead Game Designer. Now given the studio is going to keep Halo Infinite supplied with content a little longer, we may not see new from them for a while, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see Halo from someone else, if the rumours are true.
The Initiative
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
This year will mark the studios 7th anniversary since it was revealed and in that time they have not shipped a game. Now we know that the studio is working on Perfect Dark, alongside Crystal Dynamics, but there is no word on a release date for the game, in fact the last time we saw it was at the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024. Now while the gameplay looks great, see below, since then the game has picked up a new lead in Brian Horton, who left the Wolverine game at Insomniac to become the creative director on Perfect Dark.
Now while you might scream that is perfect news, it does also raise a massive red flag. If you were working on something and were set to ship it within 12 months, but got a new creative lead, they might want to make a heap of changes. It is entirely possible that with Horton’s addition to the team, he is just going to focus on delivering what is already in the game and as such we could see it release this year, but I doubt that is the case. If there is another Xbox Developer Direct in 2025 and this game is a no show, then don’t expect until 2026.
Inxile entertainment
Locations: Tustin, CA | New Orleans, LA
Last Game Released: Wasteland 3 | Series: Wasteland series, The Bard’s Tale series
It has now been 18 months since the reveal of Clockwork Revolution, the next game from the RPG masters an inXile Entertainment and since that reveal, there was only one piece of news for the game. That news was that Shapeshifter Games would be co-developing the game alongside inXile and if you don’t know that studios name, it was founded by many of the core team from Volition when it was closed down by Embracer.
Of course, getting a second studio to help make the game should speed things along, well maybe. Someone back in June 2024 tried to get people to believe that the game would release in 2025, but the developers shut that down, saying that they were still trying to determine the games release window. The studio has seen a number of staff join over the past 12 months, from a narrative designer to a VFX artist and everything in between. Given the insistance 2025 is not likely and the fact that Xbox already have a few RPGs set to release this year, this one will likely tick over to a 2026 release.
Mojang Studios
Last Game Released: Minecraft Legends | Series: Minecraft series
Just a week after we released this feature for Xbox last year, it was revealed that less than 9 months after it released, Minecraft Legend was not going to get any new content, which means that after the September 2023 ending of Minecraft Dungeons support, the original Minecraft game is now the only thing the studio has out in the world.
Now 2025 could be a big year for Mojang, they have a little movie on the way starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, plus more content is coming from them for Minecraft itself. But it won’t be the same big content drop in the Winter months as has been happening in the past. The team revealed back at Minecraft Live 2024 that the updates for the game would be more frequent, but they are also doing away with the one mega event per year and instead will do more focused broadcasts when needed. But as the year has just begun, there is no roadmap revealed just yet, but we will see more Minecraft across the year than normal.
Ninja Theory
Last Game Released: Senua's Saga: Hellblade II | Series: Hellblade series, Heavenly Sword
2024 was the year when when Ninja Theory finally shipped Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, around 4.5 years after it was announced. Given that the studio was all in on that, it is unlikely that we will see much from this studio this year.
The only change to that would be for Project: Mara, which was revealed back in January 2020 and is a ‘game’ in development that focuses on a single character, within a single location as they suffer through some sort of mental illness. The last time we heard about the game was almost 4 years ago, so an update could come this year. The only real question is how much work was done to the project, while Senua was getting finalised.
Obsidian Entertainment
Last Game Released: Pentiment | Series: Pillars of Eternity series, The Outer Worlds
In 2022, Obsidian dropped two titles just a few months apart (those games also hit more platforms in 2024 as well), but for the past 2 years they have been hard at work on Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 and 2025 will be the year when we get to enjoy both. Of course, Avowed is out first with the game currently dated for release on February 18th. We got to play the game, you can see what we got up to here, so baring some really out there issue, that game will be locked in for release. That means we should start to see clips and more from the game as the date draws closer.
So what about The Outer Worlds 2, well that is a little different, while we did just get a fun gameplay trailer, it is currently only dated as 2025. Now given the number of games that Xbox has planned for 2025, it is possible that they may delay this one. There is nothing to suggest that they are going to do that, but I suspect that this might be another Xbox Developer Direct showcase title and a release date will be shown if its before September. If the game is expected to release post September, then I wouldn’t imagine we hear much about it until the June showcase.
Playground Games
Last Game Released: Forza Horizon 5 | Series: Forza Horizon series
Right, 2025 marks the fourth year since Forza Horizon 5 released and while the game had two expansions and a lot of content added over time, many players have been asking where Horizon 6 is. Of course, in addition to that there is the question on where Fable is, a game that was rumoured to be in development back in 2017, but was officially announced in 2020. Since then we honestly haven’t seen a lot of it, we have had two trailers that were more about establishing the humour, than showing off the gameplay and I am not sure that is a good sign.
Right now the studio has around 30 roles that they are looking to fill, with them being split between Fable and Forza. The issue is that if your game is due out in 2025 and you have open roles for UI Artists or gameplay animators or a gameplay engineer, then I question just how done the game is. The studio has also seen a number of folks leave over the past few years, many have started up studios that are going to make racing games, so perhaps the RPG direction was not what folks wanted. While Fable is the focus right now, I would imagine that Forza Horizon 6 is on its way, but given that Turn 10 Studios built a new engine for their game, Horizon 6 is likely going to take advantage of that and it might take some time for them to have it ready.
Rare
Last Game Released: Sea of Thieves | Series: Banjo-Kazooie series, Viva Piñata series, Killer Instinct series
For the first time in a long time, I can say that there is news for Rare, wait its not game related news, well that sucks. Ok so in October 2024, Rare studio head Craig Duncan was promoted to the head of Xbox Game Studios and took up that role in November. As for the actual Rare game studio, they are still floundering in their sea and their ‘new’ project is still as lost in the wild as ever. Of course, 2024 did sea see Sea of Thieves set sail onto PlayStation 5 and it did well, but that is not what fans of the studio are after.
Everwild was first teased way back in 2014 and here we are a decade later and the studio has still not shown off the gameplay of this title. We did have a trailer in 2019 and then another in 2020, but the studio has apparently rebooted the game since then and while Phil Spencer has played it, there is no way for us to know if he played a test build, a vertical slice or something else. While the studio is likely to keep making content for Sea of Thieves, even though I don’t want them too, but as for Everwild, it seems that will just be for-ever in development.
Turn 10 Studios
Last Game Released: Forza Motorsport (2023) | Series: Forza Motorsport series
2023 saw Turn 10 Studios release their latest entry in the Forza Motorsport series and throughout 2024 they kept the content coming, with Update 15 releasing just a few weeks ago. The problem is that we have no idea of what the studio has planned for the foreseeable future.
The studio had one job open at the time of writing and it was for a Vehicle Senior Artist, which is not a helpful thing when you consider that the studio makes car games. Now prior to their 6 year gap between Forza Motorsport 7 and the reboot, the studio released a new entry in the series every 2 years, usually with the alternate year being Forza Horizon, so if they are going back to that cadence, we might see a new game this year. The only question is if they will release a full sequel or just keep the content coming via a meaty expansion and I doubt we will find out anything until June, but their name will likely bounce around across the year.
Undead Labs
Locations: Seattle, USA | Champaign, USA | Orlando, USA
Last Game Released: State of Decay 2 | Series: State of Decay series
It has been 4.5 years since State of Decay 3 was announced and in that time, we have not see one single undead hair from the game, which did make some sense as the studio was still producing content for their existing game. But in late 2023 development work on State of Decay 2 was handed off to another studio and about 6 weeks ago, the game saw its final piece of content released for that game, so what has been going on.
Turns out the studio forged itself a new identity to end 2024 and they now have three locations across the USA, but does that mean that they have something new cooking to show us. Honestly no idea, they have no open roles, which usually means things are moving ahead on whatever they are working on, but there are reports that have floated out that they have more going on than just State of Decay 3. Given the time between reveal that the game was coming and today, an update this year is quite likely, but I would imagine that the game is not releasing until 2026 at the earliest.
World’s Edge
Last Game Released: Age of Mythology: Retold | Series: Age of Empires series
This is a hard group to write about as they are not the main developers for the Age of series, though they are the owners. Age of Mythology and Age of Empires 4 before that were created by external studios, but World’s Edge keep the lights on, so to speak. They have actually been keeping all four versions of Age of Empires going and the new Age of Mythology, so clearly they must be running out of new things for those games.
Turns out no, as in October 2024 the studio confirmed, for Age of Empires IV at least, that new content would be coming in 2025 for the game. Age of Empires II Definitive Edition got new content in November, so they clearly have a lot more to come, but for now they are being quiet on what it might be. The studio is fairly active with their community, so I imagine we will learn what is going on with the Age of series fairly soon into this year. While they are the owners of the mobile game, see the trailer for that below, the studio is not the ones working on it.
Partnerships
Asobo Studio
Last Game Released: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 | Series: A Plague Tale series, Microsoft Flight Simulator series
It has just been a few weeks since Asobo Studio took flight with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, the latest entry in a series that is more than 40 years old. The team got out some quick patches as the game released, due to a host of issues and while the turbulence has mostly smoothed out so far, if the support for the first game they made is anything to go by, they are going to have a lot of flights to deal with in 2025.
The studio is still looking to fill jobs for their Flight Sim team, which likely means more content is coming for the game, but that is an easy prediction. While not directly connected to Xbox, the studio is also looking to bring another entry in the A Plague Tale series to life, of which there have been two entries released so far. Given their working relationship with Xbox, we will see their name a lot this year.
Avalanche Studios Group
Last Game Released: Rage 2 | Series: Just Cause series, Mad Max
The company known as Avalanche Studios, not to be confused with Hogwarts Legacy makers Avalanche Software, has not released a game since 2019’s Rage 2, but their sister studios have. Call of the Wild: The Angler from Expansive Worlds released in 2019 and Systemic Reaction also released Generation Zero in that same year and then in 2023 released Ravensbound.
Contraband was announced back in June 2021 and since that trailer, there has not been a single piece of news about the game released, but the studio has had some issues. In 2024 they closed their New York and Montreal studios, the latter of which they only bought 18 months before. Generation Zero is also done, as they got their last content released in November 2024, which means the studio is now free to work on something new, maybe Contraband. Given the Malmo and Stockholm locations have a few job openings, there is a chance things are moving ahead, but they could have cancelled the game among all their layoffs, closures and what not. I just wish they would tell us about it either way.
Iron Galaxy
Last Game Released: Killer Instinct (2013) | Series: Killer Instinct series (modern), Ports of other games
After giving Killer Instinct a shot in the arm in 2023 for its 10th anniversary, the folks at Iron Galaxy had more in store for the game as another update came out in April 2024. The studio is still technically supporting the game, but there hasn’t been any new content or updates since that April 2024 patch and there are no signs of that changing any time soon.
The studio has three locations across the USA, so there is a chance we might see something new from them in the series, but there is honestly no way of knowing. They are also a port studio, bringing Overwatch and Diablo III to Switch for Blizzard, Spyro Reignited Trilogy to PC for Activision and Metroid Prime Remastered to Switch for Nintendo. We will see them in 2025, I mean they are doing The Last of Us Part II Remastered for PC, we just don’t know if they will be doing anything for Killer Instinct.
Kojima Productions
Last Game Released: Death Stranding | Series: Death Stranding series
In June 2022 it was revealed that Kojima Productions would be working with Xbox on something new, then 18 months later in December 2023, we learnt it was OD and since then, silence. We know the game will be a horror title, Jordan Peele is working with Kojima-san on it, along with a line up of other talent that we don’t yet know. Given that the studio has Death Stranding 2: On The Beach aiming for a 2025 release, it is highly unlikely this would release this year. However I would imagine that Xbox would want to leverage the studios work there, to help drum up more interest, but given that Kojima-san is very quiet until he wants to talk about things, its possible we won’t see this at all this year, we just have to wait and see.
People Can Fly
Last Game Released: Outriders | Series: Bulletstorm, Painkiller
People Can Fly are one of the weirdest studios around, they are 22 years old and have in that time developed 6 titles and ported a few, but they have over 400 people working across 10 studios globally. It would have been more but the studio laid off around ~150 staff in 2024.
The game coming to Xbox is still only known as Project Maverick, last year I said Project Mara but that is the Ninja Theory title, so my bad there. Across the company they had six projects in development, but the lay offs in 2024 have seen one of them ended and the team working on another scaled down. Project Maverick is not one of the impacted projects, but given they have multiple projects without proper titles, there is no way of knowing where things stand with this group.
Toys for bob
Last Game Released: Crash Team Rumble | Series: Skylanders, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Known for their work on Skylanders and more recently Spyro and Crash, the studio gained a lot of attention for their care of beloved gaming characters. Which is why it was horrible to see them being shoved into the Call of Duty support bucket in 2020, but then Microsoft went and bought Activision. While there were layoffs at the studio, as part of the 1900 jobs that Xbox cut from their newly obtained studios, Toys for Bob had it worse, as they lost their physical studio at the same time. The name was still alive and the remaining staff were going to work remote full time, that news came out in February 2024.
Just 3 months later in May 2024 it was revealed that the studio had been allowed to leave the new Xbox family and return once again to its independent roots, but they had signed a deal with Xbox in June 2024 to work on something with them, we just don’t know what. The studio promised that it was early days along side the news and that we might not hear from them for a bit, which likely means nothing this year. There is hope from fans for new Spyro or Crash, but given the massive library of IP that they had access to for a bit, it could also mean Banjo or something else, we just don’t know.
So that is Xbox and their various studios, do you think we got things right here, or are we way of base on this one.
