Highlights
- Thursday, December 7 is a significant day for Xbox fans, with The Game Awards 2023 taking place and big game reveals expected.
- Xbox fans can expect to learn the release date for Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox during The Game Awards 2023.
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, releasing on December 7, is the last major game release of 2023 for Xbox and has the potential to be a hit with its combination of Ubisoft's open world style and the popular Avatar franchise.
Thursday, December 7 is going to be a big day for Xbox gamers for a few different reasons. 2023 has been a huge year for the Xbox brand, and there's still more for fans to be excited about in the near future. While Xbox had some misfires in 2023, like the disastrous launch of Redfall, it also had some serious wins, like Starfield's launch, Xbox Game Pass securing high-quality day one games, and the critically-acclaimed release of Forza Motorsport.
2023 is nearly at an end, but that doesn't mean that there isn't still more for Xbox fans to look forward to before the year comes to a close. There are still new Xbox Game Pass games on the way, plus a variety of titles set to launch for Xbox consoles, but the big day that Xbox gamers should keep an eye on is definitely Thursday, December 7. Without question, Thursday, December 7 is set to be a big day for Xbox and easily the most significant day for the Xbox brand between now and January 2024.
New Xbox Console Exclusive is Now One of 2023's Highest-Rated Games
A new Xbox Series X/S console exclusive game is now one of the highest-rated new video game releases of 2023.
There are three big reasons why Xbox fans should be excited for December 7. For one, December 7 is when The Game Awards 2023 will take place, and a number of Xbox games are nominated for awards. The Game Awards 2023 will also be home to blockbuster game reveals and announcements, making it a must-watch for fans curious about future games coming to Xbox. Secondly, December 7 is the day that the open world FPS Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is set to launch, marking what is arguably the last big release of 2023 for Xbox. And finally, December 7 is the day that Xbox fans will finally learn when Baldur's Gate 3 is coming to their platform of choice, an announcement that will go hand-in-hand with The Game Awards.
The Game Awards 2023 Should Be a Big Night for Xbox
There's been some discussion about how there are no Xbox-published games nominated for Game of the Year at this year's Game Awards, but that doesn't mean the Xbox brand isn't getting any recognition at the big show. While Xbox is out of the Game of the year race for 2023, games that fall under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella have earned nominations in other categories. For example, Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush has been nominated for five awards, while Starfield has gotten a nomination in the Best Role Playing Game category.
Xbox gamers will undoubtedly be interested to see if any games from the company take home any awards, but the real reason to tune in to The Game Awards 2023 is to see the world premiere trailers and big reveals. Xbox has traditionally had a big presence at The Game Awards, even using the event to unveil the Xbox Series X console design back in the day, and so one has to imagine it will be well-represented at The Game Awards 2023 as well.
The Game Awards 2023 will mark a great opportunity for Xbox to showcase some of the big games it has in store for 2024. While Xbox's full slate for 2024 has yet to be revealed, fans can look forward to the new Obsidian RPG Avowed dropping some time next year, along with Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2. It's certainly possible those games will get new trailers at The Game Awards 2023, but Xbox may also opt to showcase something completely unexpected. Ultimately, Xbox fans will just have to tune in to The Game Awards on December 7 to see everything that gets announced.
Baldur's Gate 3's Xbox Release Date Announcement is Coming Soon
Most of what will be announced at The Game Awards 2023 has been kept secret, but one big announcement has been revealed ahead of time. Larian Studios recently confirmed that it will reveal Baldur's Gate 3's Xbox release date at The Game Awards 2023. Some optimistic fans think that Baldur's Gate 3 will be shadow dropped for Xbox at the event, but even if that doesn't happen, Larian still expects BG3 to hit Xbox at some point in December.
Baldur's Gate 3 Reveals Physical Deluxe Edition That Includes 3 Discs on Xbox, 2 on PS5
Larian unveils a physical Deluxe Edition for Baldur's Gate 3, coming to PC, Xbox, and PS5, bundled with goodies that players can already preorder.
Baldur's Gate 3 coming to Xbox is a big deal, especially because there once was a time when fans didn't expect the massively-successful RPG to release for Xbox consoles until 2024 at the earliest. It seems that Larian had some issues getting Baldur's Gate 3 split-screen co-op working on Xbox Series S, which delayed the Xbox version of the game. After Baldur's Gate 3 released to widespread critical acclaim and was hailed as a landmark game release, even taking the crown as the highest-rated PC game of all time for a spell, plans were made to bring it to Xbox consoles as soon as possible.
Baldur's Gate 3 is tied with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as the highest-rated new game release of 2023, and it is tied with Alan Wake 2 for the most nominations at The Game Awards 2023, nominated in eight different categories. Baldur's Gate 3 is unquestionably one of 2023's biggest new releases, and so the sooner it comes to Xbox the better. December 7 will be the day that the Baldur's Gate 3 Xbox release date is finally announced, and so it really can't come soon enough.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is 2023's Last Big Game Release
While Asgard's Wrath 2, coming on December 15, will likely be a critically-acclaimed and popular game, its status as a virtual reality title makes it fairly niche. Considering this, the argument can be made that the last big new game release of 2023 is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, scheduled to drop on December 7 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. This means that the upcoming Ubisoft game is also the last big Xbox release of the year, and so it will be exciting to see how it turns out.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora gameplay makes it look like a marriage between Ubisoft's signature Far Cry style of open world and James Cameron's eye-popping sci-fi film franchise Avatar. The Avatar movies have broken records at the box office, with the 2009 Avatar film standing tall as the highest-grossing movie of all time. Obviously, the hope is for that incredible success to translate to the world of video games, but it remains to be seen if Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora can live up to the hype or not.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does have quite a bit working in its favor. The game is developed by Massive Entertainment, the studio that delivered Ubisoft's popular Division games, and has been trusted with the Star Wars IP for the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws. Frontiers of Pandora also seems to be leveraging the Avatar IP to its full advantage, giving players the chance to explore Pandora and utilize the explosive sci-fi weaponry featured in the movies. Regardless of how Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora fares with fans and critics, the game is still 2023's last big new release for Xbox, and so its launch is playing a big role in establishing December 7 as an exciting day for Xbox fans.
Once December 7 comes and goes, the rest of the year will be pretty quiet for Xbox. There are still some new games releasing in the second half of December 2023, and there will likely be some more Game Pass announcements before the year is out, but otherwise it will be time for Xbox fans to start looking forward to 2024 and everything it has in store. If 2024 is anything like 2023, next year should be another exciting one for Xbox.
