Xbox ends 25th anniversary FanFest tour in Seattle on November 12
Microsoft ended its eight-city Xbox FanFest tour on November 12, 2026, with a final event in Seattle, the city where the Xbox brand began, according to Xbox Wire. The same day, the company restocked the limited Xbox Series X25 edition and announced anniversary features, including the Xbox Playback recap and the Firefight mode for Halo: Campaign Evolved.
The event took place at the Museum of Pop Culture. “Today, we are bringing the celebration home to Seattle,” said Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, in a message to employees published by the company. The celebration marks 25 years since the original Xbox launched in 2001.
Xbox 25th anniversary memo traces the brand back to 1979
A memo published on Xbox Wire on November 12, 2026, and described by the company as sent to Xbox employees worldwide, recalls the history of the brand from 1979. That year, Microsoft released Microsoft Adventure, a text-based game adapted by a single programmer, Gordon Letwin, one of the company’s first 13 employees. Years later, Bruce Artwick brought flight simulation to the 16-bit IBM PC. According to the memo, the original Xbox was 2 to 3 times larger than rival consoles, shipped with a hard drive and an Ethernet port, and had more than twice the processing power of the PlayStation and GameCube. The memo also says Xbox has built four generations of consoles, with a fifth on the way, but gives no hardware, date or name for it.
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The memo describes Halo: Combat Evolved as the launch title that defined the brand, and the Xbox Live service as the platform that changed online play with friend lists and matchmaking. Microsoft says its games now reach more than a billion players every year.
The 25th anniversary is not the first one the company has marked with special launches. In November 2021, for the 20th anniversary of Xbox, Microsoft released a free beta of Halo Infinite and added 76 games to backward compatibility, according to the material reviewed. The celebration this year follows the same approach. In its own message, the company says it has been marking the anniversary with fans around the world and special launches.
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Xbox Playback recap reaches 15 regions until December 31, 2026
Xbox Playback is a personalized summary of each player’s game history, and it has started to be distributed. Players can access it from the console dashboard or on the web in 15 regions. Access to the feature runs until December 31, 2026.
Firefight comes to Halo: Campaign Evolved in a free winter update
The Firefight mode, a cooperative mode for four players, will arrive in Halo: Campaign Evolved as part of a free winter update. Microsoft has not set a release date beyond the winter window. “For nearly two decades, Firefight has been a Halo favorite,” said Tahir Hasangjekaj, competitive engagement director at Halo Studios.
Halo Fest starts on December 12, 2026, in Seattle, and runs until December 13, 2026. The company said more details about Firefight will be shown at the event.
Seattle FanFest finale: place, restock and engraved consoles
- Event: final stop of the eight-city FanFest tour, with 8 cities in 2026
- Place: Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle, Washington, United States
- Restock: Xbox Series X25 limited edition, on November 12, 2026
- Quantity of Series X25 units: not disclosed by Microsoft
- Engraved consoles: 111 people from Xbox and its studios with 25 years or more of service
Xbox 25th anniversary dates through February 12, 2027
- November 12, 2026: final FanFest event in Seattle and restock of Xbox Series X25
- November 15, 2026: 25th anniversary of the original Xbox
- December 12 to 13, 2026: Halo Fest in Seattle
- December 31, 2026: end of Xbox Playback access in 15 regions
- February 12, 2027: deadline to activate a Windows 11 PC for the promotion
Xbox promotion: 25 free games for Windows 11 buyers
A year-end promotion offers 25 free games to those who buy and activate a PC or laptop with Windows 11 before February 12, 2027. The offer was reported in one source, and the price of the devices was not included in the material reviewed.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 also received anniversary items, and Xbox says anniversary items were distributed in six games, including Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. The company did not give a number of players who received them.
The anniversary items are part of a wider set of gifts for players. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 received four commemorative paint packs automatically for its owners, with references to the original Xbox logo. The memo also compares the game’s scale with its first entry: the first Microsoft Flight Simulator was 160 KB, with 2D graphics, 16 colors and 20 airports, while the 2024 version draws on more than 2.5 petabytes of data, more than 15 billion times the size of the original game.
The original Xbox completes 25 years on November 15, 2026.
