XBOX Opens Pre-Orders for $900 Series X25 Anniversary Console

You're getting a lot of XBOX news today, and the biggest headline is that pre-orders for the XBOX Series X25 limited edition console are officially open. If you've been waiting on the price, release date, and every detail tied to the XBOX Series X25 and its matching controller, today is the day you get answers.

Alongside that, you're getting a look at State of Decay 3 and where it stands with Game Pass, plus a long list of new games heading to the service and to XBOX Play Anywhere. Today marks the official launch of pre-orders for the XBOX Series X25, and if you want it, move quickly once the window opens.

Pre-order details reveal a striking, pricey tribute to XBOX's 25-year history.

It became available at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time, which lines up with 10:00 a.m. Eastern, so depending on when you're reading this, the window may already be open. This is a premium release, and the price reflects that, but the design is genuinely striking.

This collection celebrates the XBOX 25th anniversary, and the special edition controller tied to the console became available a day earlier, sent out to a range of retailers. It's possible that controller is still in stock in some places since it remained available for hours after launch, so it may be worth checking around if you missed it.

The XBOX Series X25 comes paired with that same special edition controller, and it features a translucent design that gives it a distinct look next to the standard model. It went live on August 27th at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and you're looking at a price tag of $900. That's a steep number for hardware that's six years into its life cycle, and normally you'd expect pricing to trend downward rather than up.

What helps justify the cost is that every unit is individually numbered with its own unique engraving, meaning supply will be limited and each console becomes a bit more personal. This mirrors a similar move Sony made with its own 30th anniversary hardware, which also used individual numbering to add exclusivity.

Beyond numbering, extra design touches and a bundled game round out the package.

If owning a piece of XBOX history matters to you, this is clearly built with that in mind, though the price makes it a want rather than a need for most people. A few extra touches make this version stand out beyond the numbering. Demo footage showed the XBOX button lights up green when the console powers on, a small but nice detail.

You're also getting Halo Campaign Evolved bundled with the console to mark the 25-year milestone, which makes sense given how central that game has been to the XBOX story. Most people picking up a console like this have likely already played through it or already own it through Game Pass, so the inclusion feels more like a symbolic nod than a must-have bonus.

Pricing for the XBOX Series X25 will vary by region, and sales for the XBOX Series X25 will run exclusively through official XBOX storefronts rather than third-party retailers. That should mean no extra shipping charges, based on how the controller was handled, though that hasn't been fully confirmed for the console itself.

There's also hope that some kind of anti-scalping or anti-bot measure has been put in place, since demand for something this limited tends to attract resellers rather than actual fans, and ideally this ends up with people who actually want to keep and use it rather than flip it for profit. Release for the XBOX Series X25 is set for November 13th, 2026, so you've got a few months to save up if you decide to go for it.

Attention now turns to State of Decay 3's future within Game Pass.

Shifting over to game-specific news, there's been a lot of noise recently around State of Decay 3, especially after Undead Labs became an independent studio. That shift led plenty of commentators and industry watchers to speculate that the game might leave Game Pass now that it isn't tied directly to XBOX ownership anymore.

That theory never really held up under scrutiny, though, since a game like this benefits massively from the built-in audience that the service provides, making it an obvious fit rather than something the studio would want to walk away from.

That's exactly what's been confirmed, since the closed beta test for State of Decay 3 is expanding to bring in more players later this year. You can already wishlist the game ahead of its 2027 launch, and it's confirmed for XBOX Series X and S, XBOX on PC, cloud streaming, and yes, it's still included with Game Pass at launch.

It also supports XBOX Play Anywhere, meaning you can jump between console and PC without paying twice, and it'll be available across other platforms too. This news pushes back hard against the narrative that Game Pass was moving away from day one releases, and having a major 2027 title confirmed for day one inclusion is a strong signal that those rumors were overblown, at least for now.

Gamescom 2026 backs up that confirmation with a flood of new Game Pass titles.

Gamescom 2026 also delivered a packed batch of announcements, with nine separate Game Pass reveals landing on the very first day of the show. Dumpster Gang got a trailer confirming a December 2026 release, and it puts you in control of a group of raccoons causing chaos together in a cooperative sandbox built for one to four players.

Where the Winds Meet joins the service on September 16th, giving fans of third-person action games something new to dive into. Gears of War: Day Of remains on track for October 6th, which was already known but now feels more official with fresh confirmation.

Alien Death Storm, a first-person shooter from Rebellion, is targeting a spring 2027 release, and the visuals on display looked genuinely sharp for the genre. Persona 4 Revival got a story trailer confirming February 18th, 2027, and its inclusion continues a trend that now extends all the way to Persona 6 joining as well.

Terrible Lizards, a horror parkour game set in an abandoned Route 66 attraction, arrives October 29th and leans heavily into an unsettling atmosphere for horror fans. Forza Horizon 6 is getting a new Drift Attack feature on September 7th, adding fresh content to a racing game that continues pulling in a massive player base.

More announcements keep the momentum going, alongside Play Anywhere's growing lineup.

Gravehounds rounds things out with a 2026 early access launch, offering one- to four-player cooperative building and action with a bit of a battle royale-style vibe. Beyond that lineup, XBOX Play Anywhere also expanded significantly during Gamescom Opening Night Live, continuing a pattern of bigger third-party publishers backing the feature.

Mega Man Dual Override is joining, along with Exodus, which stands out as one of the bigger titles confirmed. Other additions include Warlock, Dungeons and Dragons, Roco Kingdom, Worms Galactic Tactics, Extreme Knots, No Law, and Sim World 7.

Zoopunk rounds out the list, bringing a lot of personality through its animal characters engaged in third-person combat, even though some visible frame rate dips showed up during its showing. In total, twelve games were confirmed for this feature, out of roughly fifty games announced across the showcase overall, which gives you a sense of just how much content is heading toward XBOX in the near future.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis also got its moment with new gameplay footage, adding another notable name to an already long list of titles supporting this feature. All of this ties into the growing disc-to-digital initiative, which lets you take a physical disc for a supported game and unlock the full digital entitlement tied to your account.

Physical media gets new life through XBOX's expanding disc-to-digital initiative.

That means collectors who still want physical editions, especially for bigger third-party releases, get the best of both worlds without giving up any digital perks. Between the XBOX Series X25 launch, the pricing and numbering details, the State of Decay 3 confirmation, the Gamescom 2026 lineup, and the continued growth of XBOX Play Anywhere, this has been one of the more positive stretches for XBOX in recent memory.

Consumer-friendly moves like these echo the early days of this console generation, when XBOX leaned heavily into player-focused decisions before things cooled off a bit. It's starting to feel like that momentum is returning, and with the XBOX Series X25, a packed Game Pass calendar, and so many titles rolling out, there's genuinely something here for nearly every kind of player.