2022 wasn’t the best year for Xbox, as Microsoft’s gaming division had a very light release schedule. Starfield and Redfall were delayed into 2023, Forza Horizon 5 fans got a new expansion, and Obsidian’s Pentiment was the only game released last year that was internally developed. On top of that, Microsoft started the year with massive layoffs that hit Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries.. In a new interview, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer acknowledged that 2022 wasn’t a great year for the brand, but that he was feeling much more confident for what 2023 has to offer.
“Our commitment to our fans is that we need to have a steady release of great games that people can play on our platform, and we didn’t do enough of that in 2022, there’s no doubt,” Spencer said to IGN. “And fundamentally, that’s on me. I’m the head of the business. The commitment we have to our customers to continue to deliver great games is something that I take seriously, the teams take seriously, and 2022 was too light on games. So we’re excited about getting to roll into 2023, have the Developer Direct. I felt really good about the games that we were showing.”
The next 12 months are shaping up so far to have a much healthier number of releases for Microsoft. Last week’s Developer Direct shadow-dropped Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush, Redfall got a confirmed release date of May 2, and Starfield will have its own dedicated showcase soon. Additionally, new updates on Minecraft Legends, the next Elder Scrolls Online expansion, and Forza Motorsport were seen in the Developer Direct, and Spencer mentioned that it was a relief to show off these games with confirmed release dates.
“I hesitate to get ahead of the launches, because I know there’s rightfully some fatigue in the community about us just saying, ‘just wait until’. That’s one of the reasons it was nice to be able to launch Hi-Fi Rush during the show, to show that we can launch. I think it was important for us to show games and show dates,” Spencer said.
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