Microsoft Has Stopped Developing New Games for Xbox One

Microsoft is officially done developing cross-gen games. In an interview with Axios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios confirmed that Microsoft’s internal studios have “moved on to Gen 9”, meaning the current-gen Xbox Series X and Series S.

Microsoft Flight Simulator was the first Xbox Game Studios title to skip Xbox One consoles back in 2021, and it’s since been followed by several games from Bethesda including Deathloop, Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire Tokyo, and Redfall. Starfield will also only be available on Xbox Series X|S consoles later this year, where it will be locked to 30FPS.

Microsoft will continue to support its cross-gen games on Xbox One consoles including Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Halo Infinite. However, future games will only be playable on Xbox One via Xbox Cloud Gaming. “That’s how we’re going to maintain support,” Booty said.

Minecraft Legends, which was released on Xbox One and other consoles in April 2023 was apparently the last cross-gen game from Microsoft. Now, Microsoft’s internal studios can better focus on current-gen hardware, and Booty also addressed the fact that some developers may still complain about having to support the less powerful Series S.

“Is it more work? Sure,” Booty said, adding that things should get better once developers learn how to better take advantage of the capacities of the Series S. “They can plan better, knowing where some of the sharp corners are,” the exec said.

While Microsoft is done developing new games for Xbox One, cross-gen games are not going to disappear immediately. You can expect the next Call of Duty, Fifa, NBA 2K, and other games from annualized franchises to continue shipping on Xbox One and PS4 for probably a couple of years.