Leading the charge was the Xbox Game Pass service, which continued to see a record number of subscribers thanks to exclusive first-party games like State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 4.
“In 2018, we added 116 additional high-quality titles to the Xbox Game Pass catalog across genres. We’re happy to share that we currently have more than 65 partners (up from 25 at our launch in June 2017). This includes 53 titles from developers in the ID@Xbox program. In addition, 17 titles launched the same day as their global release into Xbox Game Pass, including Sea of Thieves, Laser League, State of Decay 2, Warhammer 2: Vermintide, Graveyard Keeper, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption and Forza Horizon 4,” the company noted.
“Members increase their total time gaming on Xbox by almost 20% more than before and are also increasing their total number of games played by almost 40%, including titles outside the Xbox Game Pass catalog. In addition, the average back-catalog game sees its usage increase by 6X after joining the Xbox Game Pass library.” This time will likely increase in February when Crackdown 3 gets introduced to the service.
The company also talked about a number of studio acquisitions it made this past year, including notable companies like Obsidian Entertainment, Ninja Theory, and Playground Games, among others.
It also noted 100 new titles in the Xbox backward compatibility lineup, bringing its total count to over 500, with 57 being box One X enhanced.
It also boasted its accomplishments with cross-play support with the Nintendo Switch and PC, though the PlayStation 4 has yet to join the party. All the same, “Microsoft and Nintendo also teamed up in 2018 to enable cross-play between Minecraft players on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Windows, and mobile devices, bringing the community of 91 million monthly players even closer together.” Fortnite also managed to bring together over 78 million players.
The company also touted the 20 million monthly active users that utilize its streaming Mixer service, as well as the return of its X018 event, which took place back in November and had more than 20 million viewers worldwide.
So what’s next? “With Microsoft Studios games like Crackdown 3, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Gears 5, Gears Pop! and Minecraft: Dungeons all slated to launch this year, 2019 is shaping up nicely for Xbox, PC and mobile gamers alike,” the company noted. And with Xbox Game Pass, members can access new first-party Xbox titles the same day they launch. And that’s not to mention the major content update ‘The Arena’ coming to Sea of Thieves early 2019 (also available to Xbox Game Pass members), which will introduce an all-new competitive game mode, plus exciting new titles through the ID@Xbox program like The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti, Tunic and ATLAS– just to name a few!
“In addition to Microsoft Studios titles, our partners are bringing some of the biggest and best games to Xbox- many enhanced for Xbox One X- including: Anthem, Devil May Cry 5, Jump Force, Kingdom Hearts 3, Metro Exodus, Mortal Kombat XI, Resident Evil 2, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 and more.”
It concluded, “Finally, on behalf of the entire team here at Xbox, we wanted to extend our sincere gratitude to all of you who play an integral role in making this community what it is. We’re thankful for the energy and passion that you all bring, and we can’t wait to repay you in kind throughout the year ahead!”
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Related Forum: Xbox Forum
Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/01/09/microsoft-looks-back-epic-2018-xbox-one-x/
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