It’s almost the end of 2025, and in the spirit of Spotify Wrapped, several big companies have invited subscribers to review their last year of activity. Sony got the ball rolling with the PlayStation Wrap-Up, Steam offers a similar annual roundup, and the Nintendo Switch Year in Review recap has been announced for early next year–but where is Xbox in the middle of all this?
While it doesn’t offer an Xbox wrap-up every year, it still feels odd for Microsoft’s gaming brand to skip 2025. The year has seen several high-profile releases from the company and the launch of an Xbox-branded handheld gaming PC alongside Asus, but according to Windows Central, Microsoft is allocating its marketing budget toward celebrating several major anniversaries in 2026.
The Xbox brand celebrates its 25th anniversary next year, Blizzard has its 35th anniversary to look forward to, and Bethesda is turning 40. Those are several significant milestones in proximity to each other, and it’s a safe bet that Microsoft wants to accommodate them, possibly explaining the lack of an Xbox Wrapped this year. On top of that, we’ll see the return of BlizzCon in September, and Blizzard has teased its “biggest year yet” for 2026.
It’s interesting to see how different companies approach year-end summaries like Spotify Wrapped. While it’s disappointing that Xbox won’t have a Wrapped this year, it opens up room for discussion about what could be done differently in the future. Looking forward to seeing how this evolves!