Despite the studio closures, the overall state of the industry and everything else wrong with the world, it’s fair to say that Xbox – as a publisher of video games – has had an absolutely banging year, filled with genuinely great games.
In a blog post over on Xbox Wire, Xbox shared a message from the team and referenced their fun, nostalgia filled video from earlier in the week, saying “It’s been one of the most game-packed, award-winning years in our history – and none of it would have been possible without you. With 2025 coming to a close, we want to take this opportunity to reflect, relive our favorite moments, and say thank you for joining us to play together this year. We’re looking forward to 2026 – Xbox’s 25th anniversary year – as it’s set to be another memorable one for players, with more to come from many of the studios we’ve seen this year, and many more at Xbox.”
Finally, they invited their studios to share a look back at 2025 and tease a little on what’s coming next. Of particular note where updates from Gears of War developer The Coalition and South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games.
The Coalition and Gears of War E:Day
When asked about what the team at developer The Coalition are looking forward to the most in 2026, they had plenty to share, saying “Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Gears of War, and we can’t think of a bigger way to celebrate than with the release of Gears of War: E-Day. This is our most ambitious game yet, entirely built from scratch in Unreal Engine 5 to feel like Gears and play like new. This is a return to our roots as Marcus & Dom face the Locust for the first time ever. It’s the best place to jump into the Gears universe and we can’t wait to share more next year.“
We’re expecting we’ll see a lot more on Gears of War: E-Day in January, in Team Green’s now annual ‘Developer_Direct’ series. Exciting!
Compulsion Games and What’s Next
Following their release of the lovely South of Midnight earlier this year, Compulsion shared a little about what’s next for the studio, saying “It’s our first game as an Xbox Games Studio, and we’ve come a long way since shipping We Happy Few. With South of Midnight, we’ve grown as a team, matured as a studio, and created what we believe is our best game yet. Making this game required us to be vulnerable, to open ourselves creatively and take risks, and the result is a title that doesn’t leave players indifferent. As for us, we’re already working on our next project! The team is unified and more motivated than ever to build our next game. We’ve learned so much from South of Midnight, and we feel confident that the choices we’re making now will set us up to create our most memorable game yet!“
They also spoke a little about the upcoming multiplatform release that sees their latest title arrive on both PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2.
“Everyone at Compulsion is incredibly proud of what we’ve built, and of the amazing response from players. Over the past months, we’ve received countless requests from the community to bring the game to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. We’re thrilled to answer those calls and can’t wait for even more players to experience South of Midnight when it launches on these platforms next Spring.“
Whatever they make next, we’re sure it’ll be one to watch!
Are you excited for 2026? Let us know in the XboxEra Forums or make some noise in the lively XboxEra Community Discord Server. If you’re looking to be a bigger part of an amazing community, then either choice is a good one!
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