Microsoft reveals 22 Xbox Series X games optimized for the console

All these games have been ‘optimized’ for the Xbox Series X which means they will look better and work better on the console and also come with an ‘Optimized for Xbox Series X’ badge.

Assassins Creed: Valhalla was one of the 13 games showcased by Microsoft under its Optimized series at the Inside Xboz live stream today (Ubisoft)

Earlier in May this year, we had reported about 13 gameplay trailers that Microsoft had revealed to be ‘Optimized for Xbox Series X'. These games would also come with a badge that stated this. All we knew then was that these games would come with certain improvements that would make them work better on the new consoles, but now we have more details.

Microsoft has explained what these optimizations are and have also revealed a tentative list of 22 games that are being bumped-up for the badge.

‘Optimized for XBox Series X' will include two types of games - native Xbox Series X games like Halo Inifinite and existing games that have been fully rebuilt, including some Xbox One titles, like Gears 5.

The badge ‘Optimized for XBox Series X' is going to be put on games to indicate that these games will be able to take advantage of the Xbox Series X hardware better than other games. While how well they optimise the software will vary, Microsoft has said that these optimisations include almost zero load times via Xbox Velocity Architecture, better visuals, DirectX raytracing and higher framerates.

Technical director Mike Rayer explained that with the Xbox Series X they have reduced load-times by 4x without any code changes and thanks to the new DirectStorage APIs and new hardware decompression they have improved I/O performance and reduced CPU overhead - both these factors contribute to faster load-times. You can check out the announcement for more details.

Microsoft also released a list of 22 games confirmed to get the ‘Optimized for XBox Series X' badge. They will be adding more games to the list over time, but for now here's what you have -

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	Chorvs or Chorus	FIFA 21	Madden NFL 21	Scorn	Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
Bright Memory Infinite	Cyberpunk 2077	Gears 5	Marvel's Avengers	Second Extinction	Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Call of the Sea	Destiny 2	Halo Infinite	Outriders	The Ascent
Chivalry 2	DiRT 5	Hitman 3	Scarlet Nexus	The Medium

This list will also go on to include almost all first-party Xbox Series X titles that will be announced during the July livestream.