It's been an absolutely crazy year for Xbox first-party games already. We've had Ninja Gaiden 2 Black as a shadow drop in January, Avowed in February, and South of Midnight and Oblivion Remastered (another surprise!) in April. In the next few months, we've also got DOOM: The Dark Ages, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 and Gears of War: Reloaded.
It's no surprise, then, that Xbox is getting its flowers as a publisher at the moment - including from Larian Studios (Baldur's Gate 3) director of publishing Michael Douse, who enthused that Xbox is "spitting pure fire" right now.
Of course, a lot of this extends beyond Xbox and into the PC and PS5 realms as well - Xbox actually took all of the top three spots for best-selling PS5 games in April (those were Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft and Oblivion Remastered).
We've talked about how Gears of War: Reloaded doesn't make perfect sense from an Xbox point of view, but it definitely does for Microsoft as a whole - getting that game on PS5 is surely going to result in another best-seller this August. It's a crazy time for Xbox first-party titles, and Microsoft is throwing them out there at a record-breaking rate.
Who knows what surprises might still be in store for late 2025? What's going to be revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase in June? Will this be the most successful 12 months ever for Xbox as a publisher? It's going to be fascinating to see how things play out, and that includes for PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 owners.