Phil Spencer Reveals 'Xbox 25' Logo And Shares Video Message Ahead Of Developer Direct

Celebrating XBox by being a better publisher on PS5 than Sony 8)

@tho_mi And Sony gets 30% of every sale, or whatever their cut is.

I doubt Sony minds all that much. MS is a better third party developer than a hardware provider anyway at this point.

I just want to know what is happening with E-Day, and then EXACTLY what Microsoft are doing for the next generation, and EXACTLY when it is happening. Then I can settle down knowing that I am doing the right thing in continuing to buy my games on the Xbox...

I think 2026 will be the best and probably the pinnacle year for Xbox studios and GPU in this current console generation, including games for other platforms as well.
2027 could be good as-well depending on what pans out and any new hardware releases be it Xbox or PlayStation.

However cross generation games will feature even more for Xbox and Sony when they move into next generation.
I can actually see from both Sony and Xbox and third party studios releasing major AAA titles for cross generation next generation for the whole generation.
This current generation was just a cross generation warm up.

At least it’s not Nadella who is announcing it… but I don’t hold my breath…

@dskatter which is why I'm not a fan of the publisher route that Microsoft is going. I think it increases the revenue in the short-term, but not in the medium- to long-term.

@tho_mi To my recollection, all of Sony’s first party single player games are fully on disc and do not require an internet connection to start. That is categorically a “better” way to publish games than any other way, so you are incorrect.

Somewhere last year changed something.

All I can hear now is , “We are going to celebrate all year ……. And you are going to pay for it.”

It's wild to think I walked into Toys R Us in December (25 years ago this December) and purchased Halo and an OG XBOX. Time Flys.

Gotta be good Spencer. Ça passe ou ça casse.

@Fiendish-Beaver I would think the give E-Day the Summer showcase and it's own Presentation like Starfield. Thinking Gears is a September Release. Fable I'm torn. It's either Done and getting released in May or it's December. I think Forza in March(late). Halo November.

@tho_mi Everything is an Xbox, so why bother making XBox branded XBoxes anymore?

Whoever came up with that marketing slogan has to be regretting it at this point. >.>

Me, I’m happy to have Horizon 5 (and 6, after the likely short exclusive window) on my PS, as well as Gears and Indy. Hopefully the MCC will come as well, not just the reimagined/remade Halo 1.

I own a Series X, but I rarely boot it up. I’m a PS/Switch gamer primarily, and everything MS is doing lately makes me happy I went that way.

That said, it would be sad if MS gives up on their own actual console hardware. Especially in this anniversary year.

@dskatter not entirely sure I agree with that, it’s pretty close. I think the series X, purely from a hardware perspective, is a better machine than the base PS5 (I have a launch PS5 and switched my series X for a PC a few years ago).

Series X has the better form factor IMO, was whisper quiet under load compared to my PS5 and has slightly more raw power - it’s a great piece of engineering.

However, PlayStation seem to have better development tools and have the advantage of being the dominant platform, meaning multi-platform third party titles often perform better on the PS5 despite the slight power delta.

@Neither_scene The X has three
advantages over the PS5, in my time with both.

1-Quick Resume. If you’re playing a non-online game, it’s excellent. Though I had a few times where it glitched, and it’s utterly USELESS on online-based games…

2-Multiple external drives. The PS5 (and PS4) limits you to one external hard drive via USB. Xbox seems to play nice with at least two, if not more.

3-Backward compatibility with a metric ton of 360 and OG Xbox games. I wish I could play some of my PS3 titles on my PS4 or 5, and I actually rebought the FF13 trilogy on 360 disc to play them on my Series X.

The Series X does indeed a slight horsepower advantage over the PS5, but then the Series S comes in to play and says, “Hey, remember I exist and please don’t do anything I can’t handle!” and then it mostly stops being relevant, sadly.

PS advantages: While it doesn’t have quick resume, it DOES support rest mode with a game running so you can jump right back into it. Also, the PS5 uses faster internal and expansion storage making load times much faster in general.

And of course, PS has the larger install base. Plus, there’s the recent sales numbers where MS is lucky if they sell a thousand XBoxes a month in a place like Japan…and Sony routinely sells a much larger number.

It does amuse me that MS has been releasing more games for the PS lately than SONY has. But then, MS also absorbed a ton of developers and these releases are mostly ports of existing games and not day 1 launches.

I hope MS keeps doing hardware, mostly for the competition, but I can’t deny the Sony and Nintendo fanboy in me chuckles every time I see that “Microsoft Game Studios” logo on those platforms.

May Team Green have a great 25th anniversary and I hope XBox lovers get some very good news this year!

@Fiendish-Beaver
As you know you took the words right out of my mouth.
That’s all I want to know the same as you, from Microsoft.

They must have the answers by now and what they doing next generation.

Being honest I am starting to have that stringing me along vibe, then they gonna dump me feeling, I hope not.

@Balaam_
" all of Sony’s first party single player games are fully on disc and do not require an internet connection to start"

Unless you buy the much more expensive collectors editions which don't even have a disc, just a download key.

@tho_mi the xbox roasting is ruthless these days 😂

very funny and sad though

@ElectricWizard This! I can't even count how many PS games I've bought on disc where the disc is rendered worthless by the sheer number of updates post-launch. GT7 is a great example - abysmal game at launch; fantastic today, but the disc does absolutely nothing to reveal that.

Sure, I could play Spider-Man 2 again using the disc I guess, but other than The Last of Us 1&2 and the entire Halo series, I can't think of a single-player game I've gone back and played a second time. There's too much good stuff out there to retread.

Apparently state of decay 3 is slated for 2027. There was a delay at some point when it was decided to increase the budget.

@tho_mi is be concerned if they weren’t seeing as they bought half the industry lol.

@swedetrap You can’t play GT7 offline at all beyond some tutorial stuff, so I’m not sure I’d use that as an example.

Hopefully they either have a surprise showing by Gears E Day or they announce it’s going to have its own deep dive down the road. A whole Gen without a new Gears is not my favorite thing. :-/

Why does discs keep coming up in a lot of threads also on push square.
Let’s get with it and all digital.
I am an oldie and love all digital, music, movies and games.
It’s so smooth and seamless transitions from all devices and all entertainment at home at work and in the car.

Let’s get with you young ones.

Happy 25th anniversary, Xbox — nothing but joy, and this next generation is shaping up to be exceptional.

@dskatter
Quick resume for me is the best feature this new generation along with ssd drives.

Can’t for the life of me understand why Sony have not done the same with the PS5 and Pro.
Imagine that super fast ssd in the PS5 and five games sitting there in quick resume, would be amazing.
Especially as it would suit Sonys single player campaign games so much.

I know I’m slacking Sony with this, but I think they are just lazy as I believe it is just a little programme that memory dumps the game position on the SSD.
However someone in defence of Sony said Microsoft have the patent for QR.

Happy 25th Xbox!
I bought my one in the summer of 2002 with the PGR and Halo CE (had a PS2 at the time too). It became my primary gaming platform and never changed since. So many great gaming memories, and long it may continue.
....Xbox is dead, long live Xbox!😀

@OldGamer999

I know I’m slacking Sony with this

Cardinal sin committed right there hombre 😉.

My biggest concern is that of the £1566.37 that I spent on games alone in 2025, @OldGamer999, £1,103.90 was spent buying Xbox games (the remaining £462.47 was spent on my PS5, and that included 2 Collector's Editions that cost of £439.98).

That's a lot of games added to my Xbox library (I only bought the Doom Collector's Edition on my Xbox at a cost of £199.99, so the £903.91 is made up of individual games), and I just don't know whether I will be able to access them properly (natively) on the next Xbox.

Am I right to keep buying my games on the Xbox where I am uncertain what the future holds, or should I just begin to build my PlayStation library, where I bought a total of 4 games last year?

I just want some proper answers, rather than a lot of hyperbole about what we might get, but which might just turn out to be spin and hot air.

It's very frustrating...

@tho_mi Sony get a 30% for doing nothing. They didn't invest hundreds of millions into development or marketing, they get paid to advertise it on their store and sell it on their store. I really don't think Sonyor their fans mind at all.

And Xbox takes 70% — sure, they invested in game development, but once the development costs are covered, who do you think ends up making the most money?

And beyond caring about shareholders’ wallets — as a gamer, what would you rather have? A publisher that actually makes games, or one that spends its money buying one-year timed exclusives on third-party titles, pumping out remakes, and barely producing any new IPs or first-party games?

Thankfully, Xbox is here to keep the industry alive and kicking.

I am hoping that E-Day does get a full reveal in June, followed immediately by a deep dive, and then a release in September, which is the usual release window for Gears of War, @LordDieALot.

Thus, my thinking is as follows:

May: Forza

July: Fable (although I still think it will be delayed until next year)

August (or June): Halo

September: Gears Of War: E-day

October: Call of Duty as it will want to avoid the November release of GTA 6.

There is still a possibility that we will see Fallout 3: Remastered this year, and maybe even Gears of War 2: Reloaded, if we are really lucky...

@fatpunkslim

And beyond caring about shareholders’ wallets — as a gamer, what would you rather have?

I'll have you know that every single PlayStation or Xbox owner are fully invested shareholders in the respective companies.
Hence why the elaborate involvement in the who, how and why makes the most money/profits😉😄...

@OldGamer999 No, thank you. I’ll keep my discs so I actually own my games. Same with my blu-ray collection for movies.

This oldie will stick to physical media anytime it’s possible.

@dskatter
Enjoy yay physical. It’s all about personnel preference 🤣
I just find digital so seamless and easy to use.

@Fiendish-Beaver
I’m totally in the same boat as you and just bought ACS on series x in the sale. So ok price.
As you know I’m GPU stacked until March 2027 and with this years games it’s looking really good.

Also I loves the quick resume and Xbox controller.

I’m staying with Xbox and just have my fingers crossed.
If they stitch us up then we go later on 🤣

Sony have began to grind on me anyway, more TV and sound bar wise. So I sold the lot and got a new 2025 Samsung QD-OLED and soundbar with sub and rears and have not looked back.

I think Sony charge to much AV wise and do not really deliver nowadays and come with things missing, the others have really caught up in 2025 sharpness and motion wise as well.

@Sol4ris
I’ve fallen out with Sony.

I’m totally in the same boat as you and just bought ACS on series x in the sale. So ok price.
As you know I’m GPU stacked until March 2027 and with this years games it’s looking really good.
Also I loves the quick resume and Xbox controller.
I’m staying with Xbox and just have my fingers crossed.
If they stitch us up then we go later on 🤣
Sony have began to grind on me anyway, more TV and sound bar wise. So I sold the lot and got a new 2025 Samsung QD-OLED and soundbar with sub and rears and have not looked back.
I think Sony charge to much AV wise and do not really deliver nowadays and come with things missing, the others have really caught up in 2025 sharpness and motion wise as well.

That is an underwhelming logo. Makes me wonder if they used A.I.

The next 25 years will be Xbox as a brand moving into being a full fledge publishing company for all other platforms. And the next gen Xbox will just be a high end console/pc hybrid which most gamers wouldn't be able to afford, really just to position it in another market that's never been successful before. Microsoft wants to to be an AI company when it grows up. Because they have missed out on the internet search, won by Google and the mobile smartphone, won by Apple (and others). Microsoft's current CEO, Nadella surely does not want to lose the next great revolution in technology has is predecessor Ballmer did when he called the iPhone a "temporary phase" and was absolutely wrong.

@OldGamer999 It is! But one screwup with my account and boom, access to all those games goes away.

Convenience IS wonderful, and for some games I absolutely went for it. Helldivers 2, Mario Kart 8/World, etc. Games I knew I’d want instant access to at a moment’s notice. I’m not a total stick in the mud.

@cross717 25 years from now, Xbox will be nothing more than a third-party publisher, like Sega. I don't see their hardware division or even storefront existing for another quarter-century, with the pace that Microsoft is going at.

However, maybe that won't matter too much in the long run, because I imagine traditional home consoles aren't long for this world. The RAM shortages will probably make the PS6 (an already-redundant console due to the lack of graphical enhancements) very expensive, which will in turn likely make it the worst selling PS ever. But I could be wrong.

@dskatter
With games you do have a point about the internet etc.
with music it’s all on a tiny USB stick in my car and movies are downloaded on a hardrive so those don’t need the internet or an account. So that’s good.

@cross717
I think you are right in many years from now.
But wint Sony and Nintendo just be sort of publishers and Cloud stream gaming by then with subscriptions, I guess.

Just like we don’t have CD and blu ray players anymore.

What I’m saying is out in the future none of them will have hardware, then the whole thing will be really interesting.

@Questionable_Duck
Yep overall consoles sales are slowly decline yes the switch 2 was the fastest selling console but outside Japan it’s falling off as per Nintendo life wrote.
The PS5 is behind the PS4 and that was after the massive discounts all of December in the UK and Europe.
And we all know the Xbox story.

Surely tech wise etc the long future will be no consoles
Just like sky have now stopped selling sky q and only sell sky stream. We will be forced into it one day.
Game steaming and that’s it, like it or not.
I think Xbox first, then Sony, then Nintendo will be the last of a console breed.
Maybe PC gaming will be the last download and play system in the future.

Just to say about my post above and the non future of consoles.
I don’t want that to happen I always want the most system under my TV downloading full games top quality.

Luckily by the time it happens for real, I will probably be dead 💀 🤣🤣

Looks to be a busy year for Xbox! And it's nice of them to provide PlayStation with some games again.

@Fiendish-Beaver All your Xbox purchases will move over to PC, but your PS5 purchases will be forever stuck on those consoles. PC is the future, so it's a safer long-term investment software-wise (especially digital games).

Seeing as it’s a celebration of the 25-year history of Xbox… how about some more backward-compatibility games? Or at least bring back some of those that have left the store.

How do we know it will be all, @Darylb88? It entirely depends on how Microsoft approach this as to whether it just certain titles, or indeed, all titles. We just do not know yet which it will be...

@Fiendish-Beaver it will probably never be ALL because of licensing. But, if they continue to make their Console/PC hybrids with their stores and other than there won’t be a whole lot of need for it to be all. They may just merge future purchases, it’s just the old ones and of course physical copies.