What you need to know
Recently, Microsoft conducted a new interview with License Global magazine regarding Halo merchandising. During the interview, John Friend, head of consumer products for Xbox, revealed that Halo has generated over $1.8 billion in consumer spending on merchandising and licensed products alone, not including video games at all. In another part of the article, John Friend confirmed that Microsoft is planning a 25th anniversary event for Xbox and Halo, which share the same birthday. Xbox’s 25th anniversary is November 15, 2026. This would be an interesting time to launch a new console generation.
Xbox finds itself in a bit of a strange position in 2024. As the gaming industry tries to figure out where next-generation growth will come from, the company has been expanding its vast gaming empire across PC, mobile, and even PlayStation. Various acquisitions, including Bethesda Softworks of Fallout and Skyrim fame, and Activision-Blizzard of Warcraft and Call of Duty fame, helped Xbox see a 45% surge in overall revenue last quarter, even as its traditional Xbox business suffered a slight decline.
Core Xbox fans are concerned about how aggressive expansion into competing platforms will affect the console business. Fewer people want to buy Xbox hardware, making it harder for Microsoft to attract third-party developers, which could lead to fewer games. The original Xbox years ago had a large library gap compared to the massive global reach of the PlayStation 2. It remains to be seen whether CEO Satya Nadella’s Microsoft is prepared to keep its shrinking Xbox console business going. However, both Nadella and Phil Spencer have said that Xbox has more players than ever before and should be able to handle the increased costs, at least for now.
Regardless of Xbox’s current perception among its core community, the company is still planning for the future. Xbox President Sarah Bond announced the compatibility team earlier this year, confirming that the next Xbox will be the “biggest technological leap” for the platform. Microsoft has high hopes for upcoming Xbox games, but it’s questionable whether any will remain exclusives. Microsoft is also preparing to hold a major Xbox showcase at the Tokyo Game Show later this month.
However, a recent interview with License Global magazine provided some more interesting information about what Xbox has planned for the future.
During the interview, John Friend, head of Xbox’s consumer products division, spoke about a variety of topics related to licensing and merchandising. Xbox has been pretty successful in this area in recent years. In some cases, Xbox licenses game IP to other companies, such as the upcoming MechWarrior 5: Clans, but on the other hand, they are also deep into licensed cross-media properties, such as the Minecraft Movie, the Fallout TV show, and the Halo TV show (with mixed success, of course). In any case, Friend confirmed that Halo alone brought in $1.8 billion in non-gaming-related spending. Microsoft is also pretty active in merchandising right now, including the legendary Blizzard Store, the Xbox Merchandise Shop, and the Bethesda Gear Store.
But the interesting tidbit we’ll be discussing today is that Microsoft is already working on planning the next big Xbox anniversary milestone.
“We have some huge, amazing franchises, from World of Warcraft, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, to Halo, Call of Duty, StarCraft, and more,” Friend said. “We’re planning for the 25th anniversary of Halo and Xbox. We have a rich tradition and history, and these communities have been around for a long time, and we have to celebrate that.”
The interview delves into how Microsoft has improved its merchandising thinking to be more flexible and responsive to consumer interests. Friend explains that their approach has allowed them to target smaller audiences with merchandising for niche games like Pentimento, while building experiences for a larger audience for Call of Duty.
Microsoft has celebrated big milestones in the past with a bang, including its Xbox 20th anniversary event in 2021, where it opened up free multiplayer servers for Halo Infinite, added over 70 Xbox backwards compatible games, and even opened up a virtual Xbox artifact museum called the Xbox Vault (which is currently inaccessible).
🎃Great early Black Friday sales🦃
Xbox’s Future Plans
With Xbox’s 25th anniversary falling on November 15, 2026, the launch of a new generation of Xbox hardware is surely on the way. Sony just released its mid-range console, the PS5 Pro, but Xbox has decided not to compete with it this time. Instead, it appears Xbox is full steam ahead with its next console hardware, which sources tentatively believe will include at least a traditional-style successor to the Xbox Series X, as well as its own take on Steam Deck as Microsoft’s first real foray into Xbox handheld gaming.
Releasing these new devices on Xbox’s 25th anniversary will be an emotional one, but there’s also the kind of fanfare that the brand feels is missing a bit as it makes strategic changes that haven’t always been well-received by existing customers.
On the merchandising side, Microsoft previously created a pretty epic-looking 20th anniversary Xbox controller, so we can definitely expect customization options as well. Perhaps we’ll even see a custom Halo-styled next-gen Xbox, and maybe the next Halo game itself will be finished by then (maybe optimistically, but oh well). Microsoft’s Blizzard team is preparing a pretty big and epic series of events to celebrate the 20th anniversary of World of Warcraft this year, including in-game events for Overwatch and WoW itself. I’m hoping for something similar for Halo. I think the Master Chief skin for Overwatch is pretty cool.
Finally, as someone who praises games for more than just the games themselves, I’ll leave you with this quote from an interview with John Friend: Cheers to the next 25 years of Xbox.
“Gaming is no longer just entertainment; it has become an essential part of our lives, going beyond traditional entertainment. As we look forward to the future, our goal is to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and ensure all players, regardless of their background, feel like they’re a part of this incredible journey.”
