On November 10th, 2020 gamers will get their first taste of the next-generation of consoles when Microsoft and Xbox release the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. The console is set to arrive on that date in multiple territories, and, thanks to Xbox Game Pass and backward compatibility, gamers won’t even need to buy a game alongside their $500 purchase.
If you want new games to play on launch day, there’s a good number of stellar games looking to break-in the faster load times and improved visual fidelity of the next generation of Xbox gaming.
10 Marvel’s Avengers
If you’re like many gamers out there that are grinding away at getting their favorite heroes in Marvel’s Avengers to max level, then you can’t wait for the next-gen upgrade coming your way for free.
The game will be playable from day one on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, right in time for the release of Clint Barton’s Hawkeye. The game will likely be in a much better state on next-gen systems and will hopefully see exponential gains in the coming years from the jump to better and more efficient hardware.
9 Madden 21
The NFL season is in full effect, as is EA’s newest edition to their long-running football franchise. Madden 21 is the premier simulation experience in the world of video games, and, though exclusives help sell consoles, it’s the big annualized sports titles people purchase and play on their consoles.
It’s unclear how much better the game will be on Xbox Series X, but, if load times see drastic reductions, those who play the game all the time will tell you it was more than worth it to experience the next-gen version on day one.
8 Scorn
Scorn is a first-person shooter that doubles as a horror game and is set to release exclusively on the Xbox Series of next-gen consoles. The art direction seems to be heavily inspired by the works of H.R. Giger and carries with it a dark science fiction tone.
We don’t know exactly when the game will release, though signs point to a 2020 launch. Scorn seems to be set as a ray-tracing and graphical showpiece for Microsoft’s next-gen consoles. The game is being developed by Ebb Software and was made on Unreal Engine 4.
7 NBA 2K21
The NBA 2K series, despite increasing in popularity every year, has lost a lot of its goodwill to terrible microtransactions. Instead of offering the early adopters of NBA 2K21 free next-gen upgrades, publisher 2K decided to take the route of only offering for customers who pick up the $100 special edition version of the game.
This move was made worse thanks to the special edition featuring and paying homage to the late Kobe Bryant. If you are strong enough to wait, it will be ready to purchase the day the Xbox Series consoles release.
6 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty is in an interesting place when it comes to next-gen thanks to the success of their free-to-play battle royale, Warzone. That game will see a next-gen version available on day one, once again for free, and the mainline annual title will also release and be attached to it in some capacity.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Waris the latest entry in the Black Ops series and will be the first mainline entry of Call of Duty on next-gen consoles. It will also feature the return of the popular zombies mode, which was first introduced in 2008’s World at War.
5 Cyberpunk 2077
The cool thing about Cyberpunk 2077 is that, despite the next-gen version of the game likely not hitting the launch of the Xbox Series X, fans can still play the game with added enhancements.
Thanks to Xbox’s backward compatibility and Velocity Architecture, the highly-anticipated AAA game will see improvements while playing on the next-gen systems without any additional work needed from CD Projekt Red. The recent reports of crunch at the studio mandated in order to hit the release date make it feel as though another delay might be in the best interest of the developers.
4 Watch Dogs: Legion
Watch Dogs: Legion, like every other game in the series, seems like a title that’s going to be lost in the noise of all the games coming out this fall. It is such an ambitious project that it seems to cater to next-gen and the power the Xbox Series consoles will provide.
The game will be releasing towards the end of October 2020, but Ubisoft has stated it will be good to go and ready for the launch day of the Xbox Series X, as well as the Xbox Series S.
3 FIFA 21
It may seem boring and unexciting that most of the AAA games launching alongside the Xbox Series consoles and PlayStation 5 are annualized entries in popular sports franchises, but it’s par for the course. Games like FIFA 21 are super popular, and, through sales and Ultimate Team microtransactions, their revenue streams are almost unmatched. Those who purchased FIFA 21 for current-gen consoles can freely upgrade to the next-gen version when they grab their consoles for no additional cost.
2 Yakuza: Like A Dragon
In a move that would have seemed impossible a decade ago, the Xbox Series consoles will launch with an exclusive Japanese developed title, Yakuza: Like A Dragon. PlayStation 5 owners will have to wait until early 2021 to get their hands on it, whereas Xbox Series owners will be able to hop into the world of Yakuza on day one.
If you’re unfamiliar with the series, many of the games are now available on Xbox and can be played for “free” inside of an Xbox Game Pass subscription.
1 Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla may have been originally developed for current-gen, but this fall it is set to be one of the premier launch titles for next-gen consoles. Ubisoft even managed to change the release date to November 10th, 2020 in order to release the same day as both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Xbox secured the marketing rights to the game long ago, and it seems they’ll be pushing the next-gen version of the game as a reason to pick up a new Xbox this Holiday and hop into the future of gaming.
NEXT: Ranking The Xbox Series X Launch Lineup (So Far)
