While PlayStation and PC players can enjoy plenty of VR games, the best Xbox Series X games are only playable on your TV, PC, or mobile device using Game Pass. Many people are rightly curious why Xbox doesn’t have its own VR accessory like the competition, or if it ever will so we can fully immerse ourselves inside all of our favorite and upcoming Xbox games. Or, at the very least, you might ask if your Xbox supports a different VR headset. Sadly, the answer to all these questions is no and we’ll do our best to explain why.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer made it pretty clear in October 2021 that his team isn’t focused on VR. Instead, the core focus of Xbox remains software — more specifically, Game Pass.
“I think that when we think about immersion, we think about mixed reality, virtual reality, I’ll even take it to ‘metaverse,’ which seems to be the buzzword of the day now,” Spencer said during a Wall Street Journal interview. “We’re big believers in that software platform and the devices that will enable that, absolutely, [but] we’re focused a lot more on the software side of that right now. When I think about immersive worlds and I think about the connection of a player and community, that’s something that’s very high on our investment list.”
Spencer would go on to say that he applauds Sony and Oculus for their VR efforts, but that Xbox will stay “focused on software” for the foreseeable future. In other words, building up a stable of impressive games is more valuable than exploring VR. Seeing as the market already has some stiff competition, that’s a move that makes sense. And it’s one that’s already paying off — with Game Pass hitting 25 million subscribers in early 2022.
Xbox Series X is certainly powerful enough to support VR, so the decision not to develop a headset must be a business move.
While the VR outlook for Xbox Series X is bleak, there are plenty of alternatives to consider if you don’t mind stepping away from the Xbox ecosystem. Our best VR headsets roundup takes an in-depth look at all your options, but here’s a quick overview:
It’s hard to say if VR will arrive on Xbox Series X in the future. Microsoft certainly hasn’t announced any plans, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
Spencer did state in 2020 that adding VR would be a “no-brainer” if the technology continued to gain popularity. VR seems to be more mainstream than ever, so there is the possibility that Microsoft will throw its hat into the ring, but if so, probably not until the next generation.
For now, however, Xbox Series X fans will have to seek out an alternative source to get their VR fix.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.