Guide Xbox Adds More Perks For Game Pass Ultimate Members (December 2022)
Here's what you can claim for free this month
Feature 10 Backwards Compatible Games Transformed By The Power Of Xbox Series S
The little console that could
News Xbox Confirms Exclusivity Plans For Three Upcoming Bethesda Games
"Designed to be played primarily alone or in small groups"
Feature Pure Xbox's Game Of The Year 2022
You voted, and here are the results!
News - 2022, Week 51
Sunday25th Dec 2022
News Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays!
From all of us here at Pure Xbox
Welcome to Christmas 2022! If you're celebrating the day, we hope you're having a fantastic time and you've been treated to some great Xbox gifts. Please tell us about them in the comments! We've been slowing things down over the past week here at Pure Xbox, and that's going to continue over the next few days as we...
Saturday24th Dec 2022
Feature Pure Xbox's Game Of The Year 2022
You voted, and here are the results!
We have, once again, reached the tail end of another year, folks. Where did all that time go? Yes, it's the conclusion of another busy twelve months in the wonderful world of video gaming. There's been highs and lows (no Starfield, but we got Pentiment!), there's been joys and sorrows (Redfall still isn't here...
Poll How Many Xbox Games Have You Actually Bought This Year?
Have you mostly stuck to Game Pass?
Over the past few years, we've started to hear more and more that Xbox owners are buying fewer games and sticking to the offerings on Xbox Game Pass instead — and to be honest, we tend to do the same thing here at Pure Xbox HQ! That said, we've seen a lot of Xbox sales throughout 2022, including the current...
Talking Point What Xbox Games Are You Playing Over The Holiday Period?
The Witcher 3? High on Life? Need for Speed Unbound? Come tell us!
It's finally that time of year where the lucky ones among us get a little bit of extra relaxation time! Yes, of course, we're talking about the holiday season where we all claim we're going to catch up on a bunch of games we've thrown on the backburner over the last year or so. In...
Friday23rd Dec 2022
Guide Xbox Adds More Perks For Game Pass Ultimate Members (December 2022)
Here's what you can claim for free this month
The Xbox Game Pass Perks program is back once again for December 2022, and as we get closer to Christmas, we've got a few more notable freebies to share for the likes of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Halo Infinite! Here are some Xbox Game Pass Perks that you can claim for free in December 2022:...
News Xbox Confirms Exclusivity Plans For Three Upcoming Bethesda Games
"Designed to be played primarily alone or in small groups"
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard's initial court responses to the FTC Lawsuit have been published today (as we've highlighted elsewhere on Pure Xbox) and as part of this, Microsoft mentions that three upcoming ZeniMax (Bethesda) games are anticipated to become Xbox and PC exclusives at...
News These Are The Top-Selling Games In The Xbox Countdown Sale 2022
The hottest deals in the UK and US right now
The Xbox Countdown Sale 2022 has now been live for just over a week on the Xbox Store, and so the "Top Paid" charts are starting to show us what people have been buying, allowing us to determine some of the hottest deals so far. Like we did recently with the Black Friday Sale, we're focusing on the UK...
News Microsoft Causes Confusion With Statement About Sony 'Excluding' Games From Xbox
Is it timed or permanent?
Earlier this week, we pointed out that Xbox fans wanted to know what was going on with Square Enix in 2023, and that article ended up being shared far and wide, creating an entirely new story of its own! Xbox News for Koreans on Twitter responded to the article by sharing a Microsoft response to the
"The FTC ignores the significant benefits of the Transaction..."
Strap yourselves in, folks — here we go again! Earlier this month, the US Federal Trading Commission announced it was filing a suit against Microsoft's attempted takeover of Activision Blizzard, and now Microsoft and ActiBlizz have revealed their responses in court documents. The...
News TMNT: Shredder's Revenge Brings Retro-Inspired Free Update To Xbox Game Pass
"Up your game to the next level"
One of our absolute favourite Xbox and Xbox Game Pass releases in 2022 was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, and just in time for the holiday period, we've been treated to a brand-new free update! This patch brings three new features, along with a bunch of fixes and improvements. Those new features...
Poll What Were The Best Xbox Game Pass Additions In 2022?
There's so much to choose from!
It's been another busy year for Xbox Game Pass in 2022! Sure, Xbox Game Studios might not have had much to offer us over the past 12 months, but Game Pass has kept our backlogs very busy with a wide variety of third-party releases. To be honest, we think this poll might be even harder than the
News Fallout 76 Continues To 'Grow Significantly', Now Boasts Over 13 Million Players
The team "can't wait" to share the next chapter
Although Bethesda is looking ahead to 2023 with games like Starfield and Redfall, it hasn't forgotten about its existing library. One title in particular that appears to have had a strong year is Fallout 76. Yes, despite its disastrous launch back in 2018, the game has seemingly recovered. In its...
News 'Smile For Me' Brings Its Bizarre And Highly Beloved Adventure To Xbox In Spring 2023
It has incredibly positive reviews on Steam
Although there's a good chance you won't have heard of it, the announcement that Smile for Me is coming to Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch drew a lot of attention this week, racking up over 1667,000 views on Twitter! So, what is it? Smile for Me is described as an "unconventional point-and-click...
Thursday22nd Dec 2022
News Xbox Announces 16 More Games Now Officially Supported On Steam Deck
Since the last update earlier this year
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that various Xbox games had been classed as either "verified" or "playable" on Valve's new Steam Deck device, and now another 16 games have been officially added to the list. Not all of these are necessarily new to the Steam Deck, as the latest roundup includes all the...
News Xbox Fans Want To Know What's Going On With Square Enix In 2023
No Xbox releases announced for next year
While the recent release of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion has gone down well on Xbox so far, we're also seeing quite a lot of disgruntlement directed towards Square Enix's current 2023 lineup of games. Why? Well, there aren't Xbox announcements at all as of yet. Forspoken is a PS5 console...
News The Witcher 3 Xbox Series X Analysis Reveals A Few Differences Compared To PS5 Version
Performance mode is the way to go
One of the latest games that Digital Foundry has been putting through its paces this week is The Witcher 3 Next-Gen for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, and the analysis reveals some interesting differences between the two at launch. Firstly, in terms of the 30FPS quality mode, DF points out that it looks incred
News Hideo Kojima Reveals More About His 'Unusual' New Xbox Project
He's been thinking about it for "five or six years"
We've known that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima has been working on a project with Xbox Game Studios for a little while, but both parties have remained largely quiet about what we can expect from it. However, speaking to IGN in an interview this week, Kojima
Report EU Regulators Send 91-Page Survey To Xbox Rivals About Activision Blizzard Deal
As part of an extensive investigation
It's hard to keep up with all this Activision Blizzard news, but you may remember that the latest status with the European Commission is that it's conducting a deeper investigation into the acquisition with a deadline of March 2023. We haven't heard much since then, but it's being reported by
News One Piece Odyssey Gets New Trailer & Demo Reveal Ahead Of January 2023 Xbox Launch
11 minutes of brand-new "in-depth" footage
If we're talking major games coming to Xbox in January 2023, then one of the big releases to highlight is One Piece Odyssey, which officially arrives for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on January 13th of next year. Ahead of the game's release, Bandai Namco has unveiled a new "Systems Trailer", showing off...
News Sonic Frontiers Releases Free Festive-Themed DLC, Available Now On Xbox
Grab it right now!
It's the holiday season once again and to celebrate all-things festive, SEGA is giving away another free DLC item in its latest release, Sonic Frontiers. This time around it's a 'holiday cheer suit'. This will new apparel for Sonic can be used to "bring some holiday spirit" to the Starfall Islands. To equip it, you'll need to...
News Xbox Unveils Job Listing For 'Director Of Japan Creator Partnerships'
Another major hire in the region
Microsoft has made a big deal about the need to grow Xbox's presence in Japan over the past couple of years, and it seems like that's still a major focus for the team right now, as a major job role has just opened up at the company. The ad, posted on the Microsoft website, is for a "Director of Japan Creator...
Wednesday21st Dec 2022
News Here Are The Top 10 Xbox Games Of 2022 According To Metacritic
It's been a close fight!
We're going to be publishing our official Pure Xbox Game of the Year 2022 roundup here later this week, but before we do that, we thought we'd take a look at the highest-rated Xbox games of the year according to Metacritic. It'll come as no surprise to hear that Elden Ring takes the top spot, but there are a few games that...
News Xbox Live 1.0 Replacement Adds More Supported Titles, 40 Games Now Playable
With more to come in the New Year
If you're wondering how progress has been coming along on the Insignia project for the original Xbox, the news is that the team are still working extremely hard on adding new supported titles, with plenty of additions in December already. The list of supported games now sits at 40, with new titles including DOOM 3,...
News Hypercharge: Unboxed Creator Says Xbox Development Is Going 'Great'
Aiming for a Q1 2023 launch
One indie game that really took off in 2022 was the first and third-person wave shooter Hypercharge: Unboxed. The developer of the game was quick to confirm an Xbox release when they heard about the demand for it, so what's the latest? If you did have any concerns about the status of this particular version, there's no...
News 10 Random 'Gamers' Are Suing Microsoft Over The Activision Blizzard Deal
An antitrust suit filed in San Francisco
This latest update on the Activision Blizzard saga is not one we were expecting! As highlighted by Bloomberg this week, a group of "videogamers" have decided to file a federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft's attemp
News Outer Wilds Is Getting A Lot Of Attention Before It Leaves Xbox Game Pass
"If you haven’t played it yet, PLEASE DO SO"
Although Microsoft has kept unexpectedly quiet about the second batch of Xbox Game Pass games for December 2022 so far, we already know what's leaving the service on December 31st, and it includes the fantastic Outer Wilds. Since the announcement, we've seen quite a lot of attention being diverted...
Talking Point Could Microsoft Be Interested In Acquiring Netflix?
Who knows at this point
Of all the acquisitions we thought we might see from Microsoft in 2022, Activision Blizzard wasn't one of them. The announcement was made all the way back in January, although issues have placed the deal in doubt in recent months. So, what happens in 2023? Aside from the ongoing challenges surrounding the ActiBlizz takeover,
News CMA Reveals Public Feedback Has Been Mostly In Favour Of Xbox's ActiBlizz Acquisition
Based on around 2100 responses
The UK Competition and Markets Authority is currently conducting a "Phase 2" investigation into Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and you may remember that a couple of months ago, the authority also began asking the general public for their views on the takeover. Well, those results are now in,...
News High On Life Is Now Officially One Of The Biggest Xbox Game Pass Launches Of All Time
"We’ve been blown away by the response..."
Yesterday, we highlighted how the new Xbox console exclusive High On Life was dominating the Xbox and PC charts, and it's now been officially crowned the biggest Xbox Game Pass launch of 2022. Microsoft says this is "measured in terms of engagement, based on the number of hours play
Deals All Backwards Compatible Games In This Week's Xbox Sales (December 20-27)
Original Xbox and Xbox 360 classics
The latest set of new Xbox sales went live earlier this week in the form of Deals with Gold and Spotlight offers, which sit alongside the massive ongoing Xbox Countdown Sale. We also got treated to a few extra reductions on backwards compatible OG Xbox and Xbox 360 games, including for the likes of Assassin's...
Tuesday20th Dec 2022
Feature 10 Backwards Compatible Games Transformed By The Power Of Xbox Series S
The little console that could
Some of the very best games for your Xbox Series S hail from generations prior. While we're seeing a vast number of slightly newer titles get optimised for Xbox's digital console, we'd argue that some older games benefit even more so from the power packed into this tiny little system. From dynamic resolution bumps to...
News There's A New Way To Earn Daily Microsoft Rewards Points On Xbox
Courtesy of MSN Shopping
You already know how much we love talking about Microsoft Rewards here at Pure Xbox — we've bought so many things with our MS Rewards points in 2022 alone — and now there's yet another new way to earn daily rewards! As you can see in Rewards Hunter's excellent tutorial above, this new method requires you to use MSN...
News Xbox Series X|S Passes 20 Million Sales According To Latest Estimates
After two years on the market
Microsoft rarely chooses to share information about hardware sales these days, but according to the latest estimates from the folks at VGChartz, it looks like sales of the Xbox Series X and Series S might have passed the 20 million mark. The outlet is reporting that the two consoles have globally sold an estimated...
News High On Life Is Dominating The Charts Right Now, And Team Xbox Is Thrilled About It
"Huge congratulations!"
Update: Xbox has now officially crowned High On Life as the biggest Game Pass launch of 2022! <related ids="142900"> Original story: Well, it's fair to say High on Life has been a huge success. The wacky shooter launched on Xbox Game Pass earlier in December , and at first glance, it appears to have already est
Deals 100+ Games Added To This Week's Xbox Sales (December 20-27)
Alongside the ongoing Countdown Sale
The Xbox Countdown Sale 2022 is now in full swing, but we've also got over a hundred more games to add to the list this week in the form of Deals with Gold and Spotlight offers! There are some pretty interesting titles on sale here, too... Firstly though, don't forget about that Countdown Sale — we've...
News Halo Infinite Celebrates The Festive Season With Free 10-Tier Event Pass
Unlock new free 'n' festive cosmetics
It's the holiday season once again, and as usual, there are many games out there celebrating the period with limited-time promotions. As usual, Halo Infinite will be joining in on the fun this year with its Winter Contingency II update. Similar to last year, there'll be a bunch of festive cosmetics to unlock...
Monday19th Dec 2022
Feature These Games Are Coming To Xbox This Week (December 19-23)
Including the world's first "skateBOATING" game
Welcome to your new Xbox games roundup for December 19th to 23rd! As you can see, it's... really quiet. We've only got a few indie games confirmed for this week so far, although we're hoping Microsoft might also have a few Xbox Game Pass titles to add to the list at some point, so keep an eye out for...
News Phil Spencer Gives Praise To One Of The Best Xbox Game Pass Surprises Of 2022
The Pikmin-like platformer
We've seen Xbox boss Phil Spencer pick out a variety of Xbox games to highlight throughout 2022, with Vampire Survivors and Cult of the Lamb being a couple of examples, and he's just added to the list with the fantastic Tinykin.
Talking Point What Are You Buying In The Xbox Countdown Sale 2022?
Treating yourself for the holidays?
The final major Xbox sale of the year arrived last week in the form of the Xbox Countdown Sale 2022, and Microsoft didn't disappoint, treating us to almost 1000 discounts across a wide variety of games, add-ons and bundles. If you haven't had a chance to look at the list of deals, you'll find a range of guides...
News There's A Way To Save Big On FIFA 23 With Xbox Game Pass This Christmas
And get 500 free FIFA Points!
Whether you love it or hate it, there's no denying that FIFA 23 is consistently dominating the "Top Paid Games" charts on Xbox, and that's especially the case right now as it's been discounted as part of the Xbox Countdown Sale 2022. On the Xbox Store, you're looking at £29.99 / $29.99 for the Xbox One version and...
Talking Point What January 2023 Xbox Games With Gold Do You Want?
Please Microsoft, let's have a big start to the year...
It's almost that time again, as the Xbox Games with Gold January 2023 titles are set to be revealed very soon! The month of December delivered two Xbox One games, with Colt Canyon and Bladed Fury up for grabs. If you haven't secured yours yet, you can still grab December's Games with Gold...
News What's All This About A Cheaper, Ad-Filled Version Of Xbox Game Pass?
Is Microsoft considering it?
You may have noticed over the weekend that there was a bunch of chatter on social media about a potential cheaper, ad-filled version of Xbox Game Pass. This all started because of a screenshot posted to ResetEra appearing to show an official Spanish-language Microsoft survey, asking users whether they'd be interested in...
News Criterion Loses Five Major Team Members Following Need For Speed Unbound Launch
Including the VP and GM of the studio
We don't know about you, but we've been having a great time with Need for Speed Unbound ever since it launched back in late November, but we get the feeling it perhaps hasn't sold as well as it deserves so far. The game is already 40% off as part of the Xbox Countdown Sale 2022 (it also made our "best deals"...
Most Read
Guide Xbox Adds More Perks For Game Pass Ultimate Members (December 2022)
Feature 10 Backwards Compatible Games Transformed By The Power Of Xbox Series S
News Xbox Confirms Exclusivity Plans For Three Upcoming Bethesda Games
News There's A New Way To Earn Daily Microsoft Rewards Points On Xbox
News Here Are The Top 10 Xbox Games Of 2022 According To Metacritic
News Xbox Announces 16 More Games Now Officially Supported On Steam Deck
News Xbox Fans Want To Know What's Going On With Square Enix In 2023
News The Witcher 3 Xbox Series X Analysis Reveals A Few Differences Compared ...
News Xbox Live 1.0 Replacement Adds More Supported Titles, 40 Games Now Playable
