14 DAY TRIAL // The Xbox One has not had the best possible year in 2015, but the team in charge of the platform at Microsoft believes that it can improve the home console's results during this year and is ready to confirm some launch dates and other details associated with the titles that will arrive during the coming 12-month period.
On the official site, Mike Nichols, the corporate vice president of marketing, explains that a beta period for Gears of War 4 is confirmed for a limited number of players during the spring of this year, with the full launch arriving in the fall.
He also explains that Halo Wars 2 will be launched at the same time on both the Xbox One and PCs that are running Windows 10 and that ReCore will be offered on both platforms before the end of the year.
Crackdown 3 will offer its multiplayer modes during the summer of this year but only on the home console, and both Sea of Thieves from Rare and Gigantic are confirmed as coming to both platforms that Microsoft manages.
As previously revealed, a new season of Killer Instinct is coming in March, although a clear date has not been mentioned, and in the spring PC players will also get the Ultimate version of the first Gears of War installment.
Nichols also says that on December 28 more people were using the Xbox Live service than at any other point during its history and that 4 billion Achievements and a Gamerscore of more than 77 billion were both generated during 2015.
The future of the Xbox One is linked to exclusives and Windows 10
According to the executive, the Xbox App for Windows 10 has been used to generate more than 6.6 million hours of streaming action and the two platforms will become even more integrated in the coming months.
Microsoft adds, "Minecraft is the number one grossing paid game in the Windows 10 store, a spot it has occupied since it launched in July 2015. Nearly 1 million Minecraft players have taken advantage of the offer to get the Windows 10 version free if you already own Minecraft for PC."
The first major new title for the Xbox One coming in 2016 is Quantum Break, the new title from Remedy that's set to be offered on April 5.
The video game has been delayed from 2015 to improve quality and will allow players to control time to interact with the world around them and to take out enemies in combat.
The story is also introducing something new to the Xbox One, with a set of television moments that will offer the villain's perspective on the events that the gamer experiences.
The biggest launch for the year is Gears of War 4, which is built from the ground up to take advantage of new hardware and will also introduce changes to the gameplay mechanics of the series.
Earlier today Platinum Games announced that Xbox One exclusive Scalebound is now delayed to 2017 in order to achieve its ambitious aims.