Microsoft’s Excited About Project Scorpio Release, Teases “Terrific” Games In 2017

To start the New Year, Microsoft published a blog post Thursday that revealed Xbox achievements from the past year and teased what we can expect in 2017.

Xbox marketing VP Mike Nichols said that Xbox Live “engagement” during November and December was the highest in the history of Xbox, with gamers playing 3.9 billion hours on the service.

In fact, Xbox One owners enjoyed playing 400 new games in 2016, including the critically-acclaimed Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3.

While Nichols didn’t share any sales numbers for Microsofts big games in 2016, he said Forza Horizon 3 was one of the best-selling racing games in 2016. The game also represented the “biggest Forza launch” we’ve seen. At least 14 million people have played a Forza game on Xbox One or PC.

When it comes to Gears of War 4, the game has seen some “incredible engagement” on Xbox Live. Players have logged in 23 million hours since its release, Nichols said.

As for the PC, Microsoft announced that gamers spend more than 2.5 billion hours in November - which means the company saw an increase of 127 percent compared to 2015.

In August, Microsoft released the Xbox One S. The Xbox One S was “among the top-selling consumer products” this holiday, according to Microsoft.

Nichols said 2017 is expected to be a “special” year,” thanks to the highly anticipated launch of the Project Scorpio console, which Microsoft says it will be the “most powerful console ever.”

"We will not only launch the most powerful console ever in Project Scorpio, but we also plan to bring a number of exciting enhancements to Xbox Live," Nichols said. "And we’ll deliver a terrific portfolio of new games with Xbox Live support on Xbox One, Windows 10 or both this spring.”

Microsoft is excited about Halo Wars 2, which launches Feb 21. Other titles coming by this spring, include Resident Evil 7 biohazard, For Honor, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, TEKKEN 7, Thimbleweed Park, Mass Effect Andromeda and South Park: The Fractured but Whole and Tacoma.