Summary
Thursday, December 7 is going to be a big day forXboxgamers for a few different reasons. 2023 has been a huge year for theXboxbrand, and there’s still more for fans to be excited about in the near future. While Xbox had some misfires in 2023, like the disastrous launch ofRedfall, it also had some serious wins, likeStarfield’s launch, Xbox Game Pass securing high-quality day one games, and the critically-acclaimed release ofForza Motorsport.
2023 is nearly at an end, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t still more for Xbox fans to look forward to before the year comes to a close. There are stillnew Xbox Game Pass games on the way, plus a variety of titles set to launch for Xbox consoles, but the big day that Xbox gamers should keep an eye on is definitely Thursday, December 7. Without question, Thursday, December 7 is set to be a big day for Xbox and easily the most significant day for the Xbox brand between now and January 2024.
There are three big reasons why Xbox fans should be excited for December 7. For one,December 7 is when The Game Awards 2023 will take place, and a number of Xbox games are nominated for awards. The Game Awards 2023 will also be home to blockbuster game reveals and announcements, making it a must-watch for fans curious about future games coming to Xbox. Secondly, December 7 is the day that the open world FPSAvatar: Frontiers of Pandorais set to launch, marking what is arguably the last big release of 2023 for Xbox. And finally, December 7 is the day that Xbox fans will finally learn whenBaldur’s Gate 3is coming to their platform of choice, an announcement that will go hand-in-hand with The Game Awards.
The Game Awards 2023 Should Be a Big Night for Xbox
There’s been some discussion about how there areno Xbox-published games nominated for Game of the Yearat this year’s Game Awards, but that doesn’t mean the Xbox brand isn’t getting any recognition at the big show. While Xbox is out of the Game of the year race for 2023, games that fall under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella have earned nominations in other categories. For example, Tango Gameworks’Hi-Fi Rushhas been nominated for five awards, whileStarfieldhas gotten a nomination in the Best Role Playing Game category.
Xbox gamers will undoubtedly be interested to see if any games from the company take home any awards, but the real reason to tune in to The Game Awards 2023 is to see the world premiere trailers and big reveals. Xbox has traditionally had a big presence at The Game Awards, even using the event tounveil the Xbox Series X console designback in the day, and so one has to imagine it will be well-represented at The Game Awards 2023 as well.
The Game Awards 2023 will mark a great opportunity for Xbox to showcase some of the big games it has in store for 2024. While Xbox’s full slate for 2024 has yet to be revealed, fans can look forward to thenew Obsidian RPGAvoweddropping some time next year, along withSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. It’s certainly possible those games will get new trailers at The Game Awards 2023, but Xbox may also opt to showcase something completely unexpected. Ultimately, Xbox fans will just have to tune in to The Game Awards on December 7 to see everything that gets announced.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Release Date Announcement is Coming Soon
Most of what will be announced at The Game Awards 2023 has been kept secret, but one big announcement has been revealed ahead of time. Larian Studios recently confirmed that it will revealBaldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox release dateat The Game Awards 2023. Some optimistic fans think thatBaldur’s Gate 3will be shadow dropped for Xbox at the event, but even if that doesn’t happen, Larian still expectsBG3to hit Xbox at some point in December.
Baldur’s Gate 3coming to Xbox is a big deal, especially because there once was a time when fans didn’t expect the massively-successful RPG to release for Xbox consoles until 2024 at the earliest. It seems that Larian had some issues gettingBaldur’s Gate 3split-screen co-opworking on Xbox Series S, which delayed the Xbox version of the game. AfterBaldur’s Gate 3released to widespread critical acclaim and was hailed as a landmark game release, even taking the crown as the highest-rated PC game of all time for a spell, plans were made to bring it to Xbox consoles as soon as possible.
Baldur’s Gate 3is tied withThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomas the highest-rated new game release of 2023, and it istied withAlan Wake 2for the most nominations at The Game Awards 2023, nominated in eight different categories.Baldur’s Gate 3is unquestionably one of 2023’s biggest new releases, and so the sooner it comes to Xbox the better. December 7 will be the day that theBaldur’s Gate 3Xbox release date is finally announced, and so it really can’t come soon enough.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is 2023’s Last Big Game Release
WhileAsgard’s Wrath 2, coming on December 15, will likely be a critically-acclaimed and popular game, its status as a virtual reality title makes it fairly niche. Considering this, the argument can be made that thelast big new game release of 2023 isAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, scheduled to drop on December 7 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. This means that the upcoming Ubisoft game is also the last big Xbox release of the year, and so it will be exciting to see how it turns out.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandoragameplaymakes it look like a marriage between Ubisoft’s signatureFar Crystyle of open world and James Cameron’s eye-popping sci-fi film franchiseAvatar. TheAvatarmovies have broken records at the box office, with the 2009Avatarfilm standing tall as the highest-grossing movie of all time. Obviously, the hope is for that incredible success to translate to the world of video games, but it remains to be seen ifAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoracan live up to the hype or not.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandoradoes have quite a bit working in its favor. The game isdeveloped by Massive Entertainment, the studio that delivered Ubisoft’s popularDivisiongames, and has been trusted with theStar WarsIP for the upcomingStar Wars Outlaws.Frontiers of Pandoraalso seems to be leveraging theAvatarIP to its full advantage, giving players the chance to explore Pandora and utilize the explosive sci-fi weaponry featured in the movies. Regardless of howAvatar: Frontiers of Pandorafares with fans and critics, the game is still 2023’s last big new release for Xbox, and so its launch is playing a big role in establishing December 7 as an exciting day for Xbox fans.
Once December 7 comes and goes, the rest of the year will be pretty quiet for Xbox. There are still some new games releasing in the second half of December 2023, and there will likely be some more Game Pass announcements before the year is out, but otherwise it will be time for Xbox fans tostart looking forward to 2024and everything it has in store. If 2024 is anything like 2023, next year should be another exciting one for Xbox.
