The Xbox One has always got a bit of a bad rap when it comes to exclusives. Sure, the console did tail off towards the end when Microsoft's games pipeline seemed to clog up, but the first few years were amazing - we'll die on that hill. From 2016 onwards the console no-doubt began slowing down, but 10 years ago in 2015, the team delivered a pretty incredible lineup of games we think it's time to look back on and appreciate.
Let's start early in the year, shall we? On March 11th, Xbox delivered Ori And The Blind Forest; an absolutely gorgeous metroidvania that was so very hyped by its early 2015 release date. Eventually going on to spawn a sequel in 2020, the first Ori game marked a turning point for Microsoft, a moment where Xbox began putting real focus on smaller titles again. What a game to pick from!
Later that month we got Forza Horizon 2: Fast and Furious; a fantastic standalone Forza experience that was easily worth the low asking price at the time. This one has now succumbed to the unfortunate fate of being delisted, but those of us who grabbed it back then can still access the title in our game libraries today. By the way, this one is perfectly playable on Xbox Series X|S as well!
As usual, there was a bit of a summertime lull that followed (aside from State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition coming out), but Microsoft soon picked up the pace for what was going to be a pretty incredible end to the year. This started with a collection of classics in Rare Replay - the team's first non-Kinect release in quite a while. This bundle remains an absolutely essential title, and thankfully, you can still grab it via Xbox Game Pass right now.
In what ended up being a pretty busy August for the Xbox team, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition launched just a few weeks after Rare Replay back in 2015. This is basically a full remake of the first Gears game, and at the time, we actually think Xbox undersold this release a bit, probably due to the hype around Gears of War 4. Gears Ultimate still looks and plays amazingly well a decade later, and we're even hearing rumours about it potentially coming to PS5. That'll be an interesting turn of events if it happens!
Finally, Microsoft's big triple threat for the end of the year was Forza Motorsport 6, Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of The Tomb Raider; the latter of which was picked up as a year-long Xbox One exclusive before it moved to PS4. When you lay all of these games out it does make you appreciate those early Xbox One years, and we'd kill for a lineup like this again. Alas, game dev length these days makes it less likely, but we're excited to see if Microsoft can get close to this cadence of big game releases once more in the near future. They're definitely on the right track.
Anyway, it's been a whole decade now, but we still appreciate what Xbox One brought to the table - especially in those early years. It wasn't always the most fashionable console (especially after its rough launch), but we got some incredible games back then - evidenced by this stacked 2015 lineup. We still play some of these games to this day!
Do you have as fond memories of this era as we do? Talk to us about your favourite early Xbox One games down below.
Comments 34
Not a fan of many of these games, but Ori alone made me return to games when I was feeling disinterested in the medium (or disinterested in new games since I was definitely still playing retro games), so, for that game alone, cheers to you, 2015!
A bit of nostalgia never hurts, but for now, it's not too bad either in terms of exclusive games on the Xbox Series X: Starfield, Flight Simulator, Valheim, Forza Horizon 5, Forza Motorsport, Halo Infinite, Dungeons of Hinterberg (I love it), Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones (timed exclusive), Stalker 2, Palworld (timed exclusive), and coming in 2025 and later: Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable, Gears E-Day, Perfect Dark, Replaced, Contraband, State of Decay 3, OD, Clockwork Revolution, Ark 2, 33 Immortals, Project MARA, Project Maverick, Citizen Sleeper 2, Everwild, and more. Who said Xbox no longer has exclusive games? It's quite the opposite. With all their studios, they can afford to have both multiplatform and exclusive games, and some timed exclusive games
Amazing year I still remember it well and played nearly all of them.
The big three at the end of the year were brilliant.
Xbox consoles and exclusives should live on.
Some of the last decent 1st party AAA exclusive games to be honest. Good to remember more exciting times. This year is the turnaround year for Xbox 1st party games with a glimpse of it in late 2024, sucks all the exclusives are now no more due to horrific marketing and deals for years. Let's just hope they don't fumble being a 3rd party publisher.
@OldGamer999 I assume you mean 3DS and not WiiU!
Microsoft really don’t see what they are capable of studio wise.
They will release more big new AAA games in 2025 than Sony and Nintendo in house studios put together.
Sony Ghost 2
Nintendo probably 2 for switch 2
Xbox, Avowed, Doom, Fable and COD
also there is South of Midnight.
They have the potential if quality is very good and marketing and PR to promote the Xbox universe and keep those games off the other two consoles and have Xbox console exclusives.
And after time heads will start to turn and so will the fortune of Xbox consoles and game pass and the Xbox cloud universe.
This is why I’m saying the Xbox One generation as infamous as it was it’s certainly much better to whatever tf MS is trying to do this generation.
Killer Instinct alone made me go Xbox One. Easiest decision ever.
@OldGamer999 Always good to see some proper optimism among the PX/PS comment sections!
Can you imagine that xbox one considered a failure but effectively series S/X sales is lower now and projected to be even lower as xbox one. Thats after all these billions spend on acquiring studious including biggest publisher in the world ABK, launch of best gaming subscription GP (no sarcasm, i truly believe its unmatched), launch of 2 new consoles this gen one of which being cheap $300 machine (and as low as 180 sometimes) while competition does $700 consoles and result is WORSE than "failed xbox one".
Just let it sink for a bit.
Thats what lack of strategy, no exclusivity, mixed messaging and lack of games in the first 4 years of new gen does.
@Millionski Yep. MS finally puts themselves in a position to straight dominate and then waves the white flag. Next console sales figures will be abysmal and they'll stop completely. Sad cause I've invested 18 years into their ecosystem
@OldGamer999 i think the same thing but they don't even have faith themselves and it sucks for all the xbox fans out there. They could kill it this year if they kept all these games console exclusives. People would definitely buy into the xbox for sure. Indiana Jones, Fable, South of midnight, Avowed, Elder scrolls remake, Doom the list goes on.
Exclusive games? Meh. And now Microsoft can't even cover XSX deals in Central Europe 😤
Back when they were actually TRYING! They made everyone feel like they were a part of something bigger and fun. The interactions with fans on social media, the executives would join in on little podcasts and hype up Xbox...I miss those times.
I was late to the party with Xbox One.
Ori and Tomb Raider are the only games I played and finished on this list.
The two Ori games might be my favourite of all Xbox One games on the list.
@CenturianShark
Glad you think the same as well. They could kill it all years from now on with all those studios and talent. Then possible expand their studios even more.
I believe they really could and overtime maybe even be king of the consoles or level anyway.
Of course also have the Xbox universe like now and GPU and cloud gaming. Attack on all fronts and not wimp out giving games to other consoles.
@Millionski All that and going to be the 2nd largest gaming company in the world. Let that sink in. Play games and stop worrying.
Xbox always starts off strong, I had very fond memories on the Xbox One. I feel the jump in graphics were never really that big between Xbone and XSX as it was between Xbox OG & 360. Diminishing returns now so hope they focus more on easier to develop games focused on great gameplay.
@FatGuyInLilCoat sad but I think the good part is no one is taking away your account, existing console and games. And who knows if they still do consoles regardless of how bad it sells like they do with Ms surface.
But I think going forward I would not consider xbox to be main platform. Maybe a side box for GP.
I am planning to keep my xbox but going forward its prob between PS and Nintendo for me. Maybe PC if steam does something like steam machine 2.0
@cburg why should anyone care about that? Do you work for MS or are big shareholder?
You dont benefit from them making billions. The only good things is they can afford to put games day 1 on GP which is also backfired and part of the problem. I also wont be surprised if even that changes in future.
Yes I want to play games on my xbox that I like more than other consoles. Where is my wukong? A lot of 3rd party exclusicity for PS exists only because more devs are willing to sell to PS because xbox share is not big enough. What about next gen and gen after that? I am very confident PS6 comes which will be a proper console. Switch 2 releasing this year that is going to crush it. But MS leaves only questions as they dont care about consoles anymore
@Millionski So turns out Wukong is not on Xbox because the devs are not good at optimization. Series S is technically the culprit, if you need an exact "why?" but the devs are new to console development and Wukong itself just is incredibly poorly optimized. I have no idea if Xbox can even help in a situation like that, because it sounds like the devs refuse the idea.
(That last sentence might not be accurate since reading translated comments can easily mistake intent of words, but this is the impression I got from reading their comments. Again, might not be accurate. Translating a statement exactly is a very tricky thing.)
I remember Microsoft being absolutely skewered for the timed exclusivity on Rise of the Tomb Raider back in the day.
And yet here we are 10 years later and Sony are still doing the same thing today with the likes of Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, Death Stranding, Stellar Blade etc. Except the exclusivity period is typically far longer than just one year. I don’t see the same level of backlash online though.
I’m not endorsing third party exclusives, rather the opposite. I really wish Sony would cool their jets on these third party exclusives.
My first child was born a month after I bought the OG xbone so I don't have to many memories of the start of that gen but in that month before I completed dark souls 3 and fallout 4!
@Cakefish
Three of those were either funded by Sony, would have been cancelled without Sony or used Sony's engines to be made.
I still miss Scalebound...
"we're even hearing rumours about it potentially coming to PS5."
At this point in time with how Xbox being handled. It's like saying, we're hearing McDonald's potentially going to offer the Shamrock Shake again this year.
@fatpunkslim ...and every game you mentioned probably launches on PS5 same day or within the year.
I'm so very disappointed with what's being done to Xbox. I've been with Xbox since that very first day on 11/15/01. Such glorious time be Xbox fan back then.
@Millionski Nope. This what Nadella does to a company. Every day I wish he would step down and leave Microsoft.
@cburg 2nd largest gaming company in the world....that will no longer put out a console to sell.
Nadella is the video game equivalent of Mike Tomlin. Gets handed an incredible Steelers team but slowly takes them to mediocrity and horrible playoff record.
@Elbow Oh my! Don't dare speak the truth of Series S being terrible idea and even more terrible console. The Series S fanboys will bring out the pitchforks and torches.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Ah shoot..... If you say so
We all know, as well, the exclusivity of Rise of the Tomb Raider was to combat Xbox's desire for an Uncharted Phil Spencer couldn't stand to be without but he knew it couldn't be done. This many years later, Xbox finally gets Indiana Jones but, too little to late, Naughty Dog are again paving the highway for the next big evolution. Xbox fashionably late as usual
@GuyinPA75 I live in PA. What part of the state do you live in? I am guessing the Pittsburgh area with the Tomlin comment. Go Eagles!
@cburg Judging by your name and eagle fan. Going say your in Chambersburg?
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...