10 Reasons 2025 Is Make Or Break For Triple-A Games
8. Xbox's Bold New Strategy Will Shake Up The Industry
There's no denying that Xbox has been on the back foot ever since Microsoft so spectacularly bungled the Xbox One's launch, but 2024 saw the beginnings of some serious changes to the brand which will continue throughout 2025.
Last year, Microsoft confirmed that they are moving away from Xbox-exclusive releases and pivoting to a multiplatform strategy, which will likely see the majority of Xbox's flagship titles releasing on PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 in the future.
It still seems surreal to consider the likelihood of new Halo games being playable on Sony and Nintendo consoles, and yet, it speaks to how drastically the Xbox name has declined over the past decade.
But that's just one part of Microsoft's plan - they're also aggressively working to make Xbox games fully compatible with as many handheld PCs as possible, and even developing their own Xbox handheld.
Clearly the strategy is to make Xbox games as widely available as humanly possible across devices, whether played locally or via the cloud.
It's certainly a bold move, and while it will make Xbox games available to a far wider pool of players, it will also further diminish the already-meager "necessity" to own an Xbox console at all.
Whether it ends up being a net-positive for players and the industry remains to be seen, but 2025 will absolutely be a pivotal year for Microsoft either way.