Xbox Game Club – 2021 in Review

2021 was an eventful year for members of Xbox Game Club. For those you don’t know, we’re a community of Xbox gamers who play, share, and discuss a new featured game every week or two. I’m a Senior Community Manager on staff for the program and that means I have the awesome responsibility of playing our featured games and helping facilitate our book club-style conversations about them.

While Xbox Game Club officially kicked off in 2020, 2021 was our first full year as a program and community. Looking back over the past year we had a blast playing featured games, sharing our best content, and discussing our experiences in our favorite virtual worlds. Sound like fun? You can join us at our Xbox Game Club website.

The Games We Featured

Xbox Game Club featured over 50 games during 2021! We don’t have room here to include the complete list, but some of my own favorites included Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, Spiritfarer, Unpacking, Killer Queen Black, Mount & Blade: Warband, Minecraft, Hades, Back 4 Blood, The Vale: Shadow of the Crown, Splitgate, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I had to skip a few featured games due to time constraints and a severe fear of horror games. I still had a blast trying new games and genres, recommending some of my favorites to others, and seeing all kinds of great community content spring up in our Discord and on social media. Read on below for the community’s favorite parts of the last year in Xbox Game Club.

Community Highlights

What was your favorite game that Xbox Game Club featured this year, and why?

• Spoodly Phoenix: “Spiritfarer. It’s such a beautiful and heartfelt game about dying and the afterlife. There’s so much to do, and it was such fun to be given the freedom to explore the map and do the mini games pretty much at will. There were times the game brought me to tears with the soulful character interactions and emotional story.”
• McKanuck: “Halo Infinite: this was my first time playing a Halo game at release after having played through the entire collection to prepare for it. I hadn’t ever been this hyped up for a game release.”
• SimplyScottyx: “Tell Me Why! It was such a beautiful and captivating game with a great story. What I loved most about it was the fact that there was a character that represents the trans community.”

What’s your favorite thing about Xbox Game Club?

• McKanuck: “Featuring games I might not have otherwise tried has led me to find some new favourites.”
• Zatomas: “I like to play along with other fellow Ambassadors and having a “synchronous” conversation about those games. Also, sometimes is an occasion to stop and play games that otherwise would stay in the backlog or that I didn’t consider at all at first.”
• CerebralPaul#921: “The variety of the games chosen from week to week.”

What game(s) did you try because it was featured in Xbox Game Club?

• Hmills27: “The Yakuza franchise, which has become one of my all-time favorites now”
• Negangaming: “I have tried nearly all of the Game Club’s featured games. It gives me a chance to break away from my normal fps games and dive into something I would not normally try. Also, it gives me a chance to see if the games are suitable for my daughter to play or if it’s possible for me and her to game together.”
• BurninKnight#837: “Pretty much all of them because if you don’t try, how you going to know if you like the game or not?”

The Community is Growing

With all the fun we’re having together, it makes perfect sense that the Xbox Game Club community grew steadily over the course of 2021. Over 115,000 new members joined Xbox Game Club this year, we launched a brand-new Discord in October that has over 15,000 members to date, and we expect to see continued growth of both as we move into the new year. Want to join the party? Check out Xbox Game Club and our Discord whenever you’re ready.

Enhance your Game Club Experience

Joining Xbox Game Club will get you access to everything we’ve talked about so far, and you can level up your experience even more by becoming an Xbox Ambassador. Xbox Ambassadors get access to exclusive Missions and rewards for playing, sharing, and discussing Xbox Game Club games. In fact, the Xbox Ambassadors community has completed over 950,000 Missions focused on Xbox Game Club games and social spaces. That’s a lot of good times, XP, and exclusive rewards! Check out the Xbox Ambassadors website to learn more.

What’s Next for Xbox Game Club?

In 2022 we plan to bring fun new events, content, and conversations to Xbox Game Club. Members should stay tuned for emails and Discord announcements with the latest in Xbox Game Club news. I look forward to chatting about games with you soon.

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