What was Xbox's last killer app?

[Veknoid_Outcast]

JRPGfan said:

Veknoid_Outcast said:

Xbox has had a bunch of great games since its glory days, but not many that have single-handedly driven widespread console adoption.

Maybe the one-two punch of Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite in November/December 2021? I recall there was a huge spike in hardware sales around that time.

Halo Infinite was not a killer app.... the reveal was so bad they had to backtrack, and give it another year in the oven.
When it launched, it fizzled out quite quick.  The bad pr of the reveal, I would say killed its status as such. 
At launch I think it had like a 86 metacritic score (today it sits at 87), mostly for its multiplayer aspect.

In June 2026.... Halo Infinate is ranked 49th on xbox's "most played list".
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/halo/halo-infinite-is-slipping-down-xbox-most-played-but-master-chief-collection-refuses-to-be-fragged

It has been almost 5years.... so yeah that makes sense.
However its getting beaten by older Halo Titles in the "most played list".

Just doesn't seem like a killer app, the type op was speaking off.

Yeah, you're right. I was trying to find some modern example that might fit the bill, and even then I had to include two different games across a limited two-month period.

But I do think Horizon 5 and Infinite moved the needle to some degree. In the US, in December 2021, Infinite debuted as the best-selling game on Xbox platforms, and the second best-selling game across the board (it lost to Call of Duty: Vanguard). The same month, Xbox Series outsold PS5 in both the US and the UK. And in January 2022, Microsoft reported that 18 million people had played Forza Horizon 5 and more than 20 million had played Halo Infinite.

Of course, there were stock issues everywhere at the time. And it's difficult to determine the exact influence of these games on Xbox Series, since they launched on PC as well.