It looks like Microsoft is working on another mysterious sequel, but don’t expect to play it for another decade, based on court records of a recent legal challenge.
The unnamed title may or may not be coming to the Xbox Series X|S, proposed in court documents spotted by Axios’ Stephen Totilo stemming from an effort to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard The lawsuit brought by the group (thanks, VGC (opens in a new tab)).
Court documents state that AAA-rated films such as Halo infinite, Often have long development times. Even more interesting, though, is the follow-up quote: “For example, according to one Microsoft executive, [redacated]the forthcoming title [redacted] Franchising, it can take a decade to develop. “
Most interesting edits from last week’s gamer lawsuit amendments against the Microsoft-Activision deal: -Microsoft franchise sequels likely to have 10-year development cycles- Presumably a detailed explanation of what’s bad in May 2022 (Redfall/Starfield delay? ) pic.twitter.com/OJETHAy8MMApril 20, 2023
The key information here, while edited, does coincide with the current inconsistent development of various projects at Xbox Game Studios. But for now, we haven’t confirmed if the editorial title in question is one that’s already been revealed.
Xbox has some announced games in the works, but we rarely see them.These include perfect darkness, fable, eternal wilderness And, perhaps most notably, The Elder Scrolls 6, This will be an Xbox console exclusive following Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Media.
I believe any of these titles would fit the bill that took a decade to develop. It’s also worth noting, however, that it’s unclear whether the edited exec here means we really won’t see the title for another decade (read: launch in 2033), or if it’s already in the development pipeline displayed for several years. I think the latter case is the more likely of the two here.
I just hope it’s not…
Beyond the titles we know, Xbox is sitting on a veritable trove of franchises that fans want to see return.Arguably the biggest hit on the Xbox One was 2013’s killer instinct, A series of revivals has been both wondrous and surprisingly impactful.
I think killer instinct One of the best fighting games of the past decade; I think it has more impact on today’s gaming landscape than you can imagine. Chi 2013 One of the first fighting games to popularize rollback netcode. In recent years, rollback has become the new standard for online connections in fighting games, replacing latency-based networking code.
killer instinct Might also help generalize seasonal DLC models.This isn’t unique to fighting games either, as seasons of extra content appear in nearly every popular free-to-play game, including fortniteof Fight through.
killer instinct Surely long overdue in itself, a brand new entry. However, with developers Double Helix and Iron Galaxy leaving other projects, the right team needed to be found for the job.This is a quote from Phil Spencer, not mine, because the head of Xbox expressed interest in bringing the series back (opens in a new tab).
That being said, I sincerely hope that the titles that were removed from those court documents aren’t new killer instinct. On the one hand, it’s nice to know the series is back, but I certainly don’t want to wait another five or ten years to play it.
