With next gen right around the corner, all of us have all sorts of wishlists in our minds, and most of them, of course, are all about the thing that matters most- the games. There’s so many games we’d like to see on next-gen platforms, so many franchises we’d like to see making a return. In this feature, we’ll be talking about fourteen sequels to Microsoft-owned franchises that we’d like to see on the Xbox Scarlett, at one point or another.

Some of the games we’ll be mentioning will be obvious picks, the kind that will inevitably show up sooner rather than later, while others will be more out there, as hopes and dreams go. In all cases though, keep in mind that this is a wishlist, not a prediction list. With all that out of the way, let’s get started.

HALO WARS 3

Halo will, of course, be a major presence on Xbox Scarlett – it’s launching with the next big Halo title, after all – but we’d like to see more from the franchise on the console than just its mainline games. Halo Wars started as an interesting strategy offshoot, and though the first game was definitely a flawed one, it showed plenty of promise. Halo Wars 2 made good on a lot of its potential, and was a much better game than any of us were expecting it to be. Our hope is that Microsoft will continue to invest in this branch of Halo, and allow Halo Wars to continue its upward trajectory with a third game.

One of the best games on the Xbox One is Sunset Overdrive, the Insomniac Games developed exclusive action platformer that released last year for the Xbox One to general critical acclaim, but sadly, soft sales at retail. Those poor sales are what make the prospect of a sequel to the game so unlikely- especially since Microsoft seems to generally prefer a strategy of cultivating blockbuster exclusives for its system.

But the idea of a Sunset Overdrive sequel is not entirely off the table, like you would think. While Xbox’s Phil Spencer has confirmed that there is no work being done on the Sunset Overdrive IP currently, he also did state that there is always the possibility of revisiting the brand at some time in the future.

“On Sunset Overdrive, good things can get revisited. We aren’t doing anything right now though,” he said, in response to a fan tweet.

I mean, I guess it’s as close as we are ever going to get right now- it could have been worse, he could have just deflected the answer to Insomniac (who own the IP), in which case it would have been a pretty sure shot sign that there will be no sequel.

Spencer also discussed bringing Project Gotham Racing back via enabling it for Xbox 360 backwards compatibility on the Xbox One. Or rather, more accurately, he discussed why it might be difficult. Apparently, the issue is with licenses, and the difficulty with renewing them for the Xbox One. “Challenge with games that have a lot of licenses is most licenses are done per platform, licenses would have to be redone for X1,” he said.

That is pretty sad- I adored Project Gotham Racing, and while Forza Horizon is a good substitute, there is nothing quite as good as the real thing.

Speaking to IGN, Microsoft Game Studios’ corporate VP Phil Spencer said, “Maybe. The Kudos system we had in PGR was the real secret sauce. That was the thing people really loved. It had a great feel. It was there at launch, which I think was important, for both the original Xbox and Xbox 360.

“It’s funny. I was playing the new Need for Speed on Xbox One the other day. That team and EA are doing an amazing job. The next game looks fantastic in that arcade racer space. Some of the rumours around PGR were probably us working on Forza Horizon with Playground, and people were guessing it was a PGR game.”

Spencer does reveal that the series does come up in conversations with Turn 10 Studios, developer of the Forza series. “We talk. Alan Hartman [Turn 10 studio manager] and I talk about PGR. We’re full in the racing space right now when we think about our franchises. But I know there is a lot of love for that franchise out there, and it would be interesting to think about what we could do. I don’t think we would ever have three console racing franchises. That seems like a lot for a first-party, with Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport.

“Forza Horizon is not PGR from an arcade style, but it’s not me sitting on a circuit running lap after lap. It’s more of an open world. There’s maybe an opportunity for us to look at some of the stuff that worked in PGR.”

Would you like to see a new Project Gotham Racing one of these years? Let us know below.

It turns out that response already happened well in advance with Project Gotham Racing, whose trademark has been renewed by Microsoft this past January. The critically acclaimed racing simulation series has been developed by Bizarre Creations, with the last game on an Xbox console being Project Gotham Racing 4 on the Xbox 360.

Of course, that was more than 5 years ago. Since then, Microsoft has attained more fame and fortune with Turn 10 Studios’ Forza Motorsport series, and the increasing emphasis on Kinect means that we’re seeing less hardcore franchises than before.

Then again, if Forza benefited from the use of Kinect, who’s to say PGR won’t get the same treatment? Let’s see if this means a new game somewhere down the line.