Xbox turns 25 on Sunday. Between now and then you get six new Game Pass games, a final FanFest at MoPOP in Seattle, and Banjo, Perfect Dark and Viva Piñata hitting Game Pass Essential on the big day. Here's the whole week in one place.
Twenty-five years ago this Sunday, a big black box with a green jewel on top launched and changed console gaming. The original Xbox hit stores on November 15, 2001, and Xbox is spending this entire week celebrating it. The party started this morning with three day one Game Pass launches, it rolls into a homecoming FanFest in Seattle on Thursday, and it lands on Sunday with eight Xbox and Rare classics joining Game Pass Essential.
What a time to be an Xbox fan. We already walked through November’s first Game Pass wave. Here’s everything happening this week, day by day, so you don’t miss a thing.
Tuesday, November 10: three day one Game Pass launches
Today’s lineup is live. Warhammer Survivors is the headliner, an officially licensed bullet-heaven game from Auroch Digital, the studio behind Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, made in partnership with Warhammer and poncle, the team behind Vampire Survivors. Xbox Wire calls it a “fast-paced roguelite survivors’ game” that throws iconic Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar characters at endless enemy hordes. It’s on Xbox Series X|S, PC, handheld and Cloud through Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Joining it today, also day one on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass:
- Football Manager 27 Console (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
- Tanuki: Pon’s Summer (Cloud, Console, PC), the BMX delivery game where you ride around a Japanese island town fixing up the shrine before the Tanuki Festival
Microsoft Sudoku on PC also picks up Game Pass perks today, with ad-free play, double XP and extra Coins in Daily Challenges, per Xbox Wire.
Wednesday, November 11: two more, and last call on Modern Warfare 4 DMZ
Hope in the City arrives day one on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. It’s a mystery adventure where 17-year-old Hope Song turns her sketches into evidence after her parents go missing. Thronefall, the minimalist build-by-day, defend-by-night strategy game, lands on Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass across Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, handheld and PC.
If you haven’t jumped into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ yet, Wednesday morning is your deadline. Xbox’s current Free Play Days window for DMZ runs until November 11 at 10 AM PT (1 PM ET) for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and Essential members, per Xbox Wire.
Thursday, November 12: FanFest comes home to Seattle
This is the one Xbox fans will be talking about. Xbox FanFest takes over the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle on Thursday for the final stop of this year’s eight-city FanFest Tour. Xbox calls it a homecoming, and it’s a fitting one: Seattle is where Xbox started.
“As we get ready to celebrate 25 years of XBOX on November 15, we’re bringing fans together in the city where it all began,” the team wrote on Xbox Wire. Fans inside MoPOP get hands-on gameplay, Xbox history and artifacts, chances to meet the people behind the games, trivia, collectibles, fan activities and an Xbox Gear pop-up shop, plus what Xbox promises will be “plenty of surprises along the way.”
Entry was handled through sweepstakes that closed on October 11, so if you didn’t win a spot, you’re watching from home. But “plenty of surprises” at an Xbox 25th anniversary celebration in Xbox’s hometown, three days before the birthday? We’d keep an eye on Xbox’s socials Thursday. That’s not a confirmed announcement, just us reading the room.
The same day, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando joins Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass. It’s four-player co-op survival against massive zombie swarms, and it’s a perfect squad night pick for the weekend.
Sunday, November 15: the birthday, and the classics
On Xbox’s actual 25th birthday, eight games from Xbox history join Game Pass Essential, the lowest-priced tier, which means members on every tier can play them:
- Banjo-Kazooie (Cloud, Console)
- Banjo-Tooie (Cloud, Console)
- Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (Cloud, Console)
- Gears of War: Judgment (Cloud, Console)
- Halo: Spartan Assault (Cloud, Console, PC)
- Perfect Dark (Cloud, Console)
- Viva Piñata (Cloud, Console)
- Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (Cloud, Console)
That list is the most Xbox thing Microsoft could have done for the birthday. Rare’s golden era, Gears and Halo, all on the cheapest tier. If you’ve got a younger player in the house who has never smashed a piñata open in Viva Piñata or heard the Banjo music kick in, Sunday is their day.
Sunday is also a goodbye day. Thirteen games leave Game Pass on November 15, including GoldenEye 007, Wreckfest, 1000xResist, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and Moonlighter. Xbox Wire says the departing games are discounted to buy before they go. Having GoldenEye leave on the same day Perfect Dark arrives is a strange twist, so if you planned one more run through the Facility, you have five days.
The 25 Years of Xbox bundle
Xbox’s anniversary bundle of 25 games, which started as a free offer for US buyers of new Windows 11 PCs and handhelds, now also has its own listing on the Xbox store for $570 in certain regions, according to IGN India. It packs Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo: Reach and more Halo, Skyrim Anniversary Edition and Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition on PC, the Doom Anthology, the Gears Triple Bundle and the full Age of Empires family.
Why this week matters
Twenty-five years in, the thing Xbox does best is still the thing it started with: treating its own history like it matters. Backward compatibility kept these games alive, and Game Pass is now putting them in front of a new generation for the price of the cheapest tier. Pair that with a FanFest in the hometown and six new games in one week, and this is a birthday that’s actually about the players.
It is what it is: there has never been a cheaper, easier time to jump into Xbox history. Join this side or just go ahead and subscribe to Game Pass. That’s it.
Image: Xbox
Sources
- Xbox Wire: Warhammer Survivors Out Now on XBOX Game Pass (Nov 10, 2026)
- Xbox Wire: Coming to Xbox Game Pass, November 2026 Wave 1 (Nov 3, 2026)
- Xbox Wire: Next Week on XBOX, New Games for November 9 to 13 (Nov 6, 2026)
- Xbox Wire: Hello from Seattle, XBOX FanFest Comes Home November 12 (Oct 5, 2026)
- Xbox Wire: Free Play Days, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ and more (Nov 5, 2026)
- IGN India: Xbox has released a 25-game bundle for its 25th anniversary (Nov 9, 2026)
- Pure Xbox: 10+ Game Pass titles confirmed for Xbox’s 25th anniversary week
- OnPoint 4 Gamers: Game Pass November Wave 1
- OnPoint 4 Gamers: 25 Years of Xbox bundle, the full list and how to claim it
- X: Xbox Game Pass November plans
Which Xbox classic are you firing up on November 15?
Vote and see what other Xbox fans think.
Like having a say? Get OnPoint Weekly or argue it out on Discord.
