Microsoft has officially kicked off the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Xbox family home console line. Dubbed 20 Years of Xbox, the company will be celebrating from now all the way until November 15, which is the actual date that the original Xbox launched in North America 20 years ago. A major focus of this celebration is of course the most decorated Microsoft-owned franchise, Halo, which was a launch title for the system and a major factor in helping the Xbox become one of the most prominent consoles in the gaming market.
As for what the company has in store for the fans, it’s not too much at the moment. Microsoft did update their online Gear Shop to be outfitted with some special 20 Years of Xbox merchandise, as well as offering up a special Halo wallpaper which looks awesome, but nothing major in terms of their actual video games. This will more than likely change as the year progresses, especially when we get closer to the anniversary date of November 15.
Microsoft is also adding to this with the annual Xbox Fanfest which is now being expanded with exclusive physical and digital events, more content, new merchandise, and giveaways. This is quite a change from how the event used to be as a collection of events around the world as opposed to one single showing. You can register for the event here if you’re interested. Microsoft is also going to hold special livestream on Twitch which will feature Halo: Combat Evolved. They also released a special profile background theme for Xbox Live users called The Original, which has the actual background and sound effects of the original Xbox UI menu.
Since Halo is the topic of this celebration, there’s also a strong possibility that 343 Industries will reveal the release date of Halo: Infinite sometime in the foreseeable future. We already know that the game is slated to launch this Fall during the 2021 Holiday Season, but it’s also possible that they’ll make the launch date around the time of the original game’s release date, November 15. That date falls on a Monday this year so it’s highly unlikely that they’ll use the actual day, but it wouldn’t be such a stretch for Microsoft to make this a target time frame. Hopefully, the company can keep progressing through development despite the recent setbacks and Xbox One cancelation rumors. Perhaps we’ll learn more by E3 2021.