2016 was a year of major milestones for Xbox

When looking back at 2016, gamers remember the highs and lows of getting introduced to new games and the agonizing wait of another year to rejoin their favorite franchise, but most could agree that 2016 was a hell of a year in Xbox-o-sphere. Xbox’s Corporate Vice President of Marketing Mike Nichols took to Xbox Wire today to discuss some of the huge milestones for both the company and its games and partner studios.
As Nichols mentions, the Xbox One S was one of the biggest moments of 2016, especially considering it was only released in the second half of the year. The console, while a marginal upgrade performance-wise form the 2013 Xbox One, added more space to gamers’ setup with a 40% smaller overall volume and internalized power supply brick, upscaling games to 4K, as well as streaming 4K from Netflix and playing 4K Blu-ray from the integrated reader. All that is not to mention the addition of High-Dynamic Range gaming visuals, widening the color gamut on compatible TVs to bring games even closer to realism. Alongside the hype of a new console to buy came the still-growing buzz surrounding Project Scorpio, Xbox’s effort to make the most powerful and VR- game console yet.
Off the hardware, software and backend improvements abound came in 2016. First, Xbox’s Live online service was found to be not only the fastest, but also the most reliable gaming network in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Then there’s the introduction of Xbox Play Anywhere, a buy-it-once kind of operation where a digital purchase of compatible games on either Xbox One or Windows 10 would grant a free copy for the other system to play seamlessly and be able to sync progress, achievements, and entire save files so you have your games wherever you go. Not only could you play new games in new places, Xbox owners could take advantage of the continually-growing Xbox Backwards Compatibility library to play their favorite Xbox 360 titles on their Xbox One’s and One S’s and relive their favorite moments all over again, or just catch up on the history of a new favorite franchise.
In the Xbox firmware realm, both Xbox One and Xbox One S, as well as Windows 10 via the Xbox app, were given the gifts of Looking For Group and Clubs. If your friends aren’t online and you need squad mates, LFG let you find fellow gamers to ride into battle or race to victory with, while Clubs let you have that cool chatroom for your favorite game, style of gaming, or topic. Each Xbox One and One S also got a new personal gaming assistant in Cortana as well as a personal DJ with background music. Cortana replaced the nameless assistant from yesteryear with a dancing pair of circles and a name that made any gamer feel like a UNSC ship captain, or even Master Chief himself.
According to Nichols’ post, the Xbox Live community seriously got its game on in 2016. With almost 4 billion hours in just the last two months of 2016, 14 million players in the Forza Franchise,  23 million Versus Multiplayer matches in Gears of War 4, and 265 million hours spent in Xbox Backwards Compatible titles, Xbox Live way buzzing all year. Nichols closes with looks to 2017, not just with Project Scorpio, but with upcoming titles like Halo Wars 2 on February 21, as well as Mass Effect Andromeda, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and Resident Evil 7 biohazard. Upcoming games, as well as existing titles set to get more content this year, are all well and good, but the big thing for Xbox this year will definitely be what comes of Project Scorpio, and we’re all eagerly awaiting what this year brings.
Source: Xbox Wire