Microsoft Stops Development of Games for Older Xbox One

If you were hoping more Microsoft games might come to the aging Xbox One, there’s bad news: the company has halted development of first-party titles for the decade-old console. 

In an interview(Opens in a new window) with Axios, Microsoft’s head for game studios, Matt Booty, revealed the company is solely focused on developing games for the current-generation Xbox Series X and S, along with the PC platform.  

“We’ve moved on to Gen 9,” Booty reportedly said, referring to the Xbox Series X generation. 

The news isn’t exactly a surprise considering the Xbox One was released in 2013. But it’s still unfortunate for anyone who owns an Xbox One X, which Microsoft released four years later as an upgrade for the Xbox One with more graphics horsepower. One of Microsoft’s last major Xbox titles, Halo Infinite, was built for both generations of hardware.  

Now Booty says only Microsoft’s Minecraft will continue to support the Xbox One. Still, Booty points out Xbox One owners can use their hardware to play current-generation games through the company’s cloud-gaming function, which is available on an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership.

It’s also possible third-party video game publishers could still release some titles for the decade-old console. For example, Blizzard’s recently launched Diablo IV is available for both the Xbox Series X/S and the older Xbox One. 

Nevertheless, the Xbox One is fairly old when many game developers, especially for AAA titles, are moving on to current hardware. Microsoft’s next big Xbox title, Starfield, is not only exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S and PC, but it’ll also require at least 125GB in SSD memory.