Xbox Celebrates 20th Anniversary With New Halo Artwork And More

2021 marks the 20th anniversary of Xbox, and Microsoft is going big to celebrate with a variety of promotions, events, and activities scheduled to mark the occasion.

The original Xbox launched on November 15, 2001, so its 20th anniversary is right around the corner. As an excellent oral history explained, it was a struggle to get Xbox off the ground inside Microsoft at the start, but now the business is thriving and Xbox has become synonymous with gaming. A new blog post runs down a number of the ways Microsoft is celebrating the milestone, and also dropped some stats, like how 7,000 games have been released across all Xbox platforms over the past 20 years. Additionally, players have collectively tallied nearly 1 trillion in combined Gamerscore.

Halo: Combat Evolved was the so-called killer app for Xbox at the start, and to celebrate, Microsoft created a special piece of artwork that pays homage to the past and looks forward to the future. The next Halo game, Halo Infinite, releases this fall. A release date hasn't been announced yet, but November 15 would be a pretty special date to launch it.

Microsoft's celebrations for Xbox's 20th anniversary are on now through November 15, and they include a number of events and promotions. These include a social media campaign where users can share their favorite memories and stories using the #Xbox20 hashtag.

The Xbox Gear Shop, meanwhile, already has new merchandise to pick up, including T-shirts, mugs, bags, and more. Fans can also now snag free anniversary-themed wallpapers, while registration for the 20th Anniversary Xbox FanFest are now open.

A 20-year gamerpic and "The Original" profile theme are now available on console to help you deck out and customize your console with the anniversary in mind. Those on Xbox Series X|S can get a special dynamic version of The Original.

Additionally, Microsoft has curated a collection of memorable and noteworthy games from Xbox's 20 years. You can also search "Xbox Anniversary" in the console store to bring up these games.

Additionally, Microsoft will host a livestream today, May 13, on Twitch.tv/Xbox beginning at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET. The hosts will reminisce about the anniversary while playing Halo: Combat Evolved through The Master Chief Collection.

Microsoft is planning even more anniversary events in the lead-up to the November 15 anniversary date, so keep checking back for more.