The first Xbox exclusive of 2023 is a box of Oreos

Xbox has been in a bit of a hot seat after a quiet and delay-filled 2022 which ended with its near-total absence from the big year-end game announcement rush, with The Game Awards lineup spawning particularly unfavorable comparisons to PlayStation. Fortunately, the platform's kicked off the new year with a fresh new exclusive: Xbox Oreos. 

Let's get one big caveat out of the way: this is a Europe-only collaboration. It does include 22 European countries, though, the citizens of which will soon have the rare opportunity of eating regular-old Oreo cookies stamped with the Xbox icon, buttons, and – be still my heart – a directional arrow. 

This being a junk food video game collaboration, some in-game cosmetics are tagging along. By scanning cookies and redeeming Xbox Oreo codes, you can claim some vaguely Oreo-style armor in Halo Infinite, a vehicle skin for Forza Horizon 5, and a Sea of Thieves ship fit which is easily my favorite of the bunch. Participants will also have a shot at winning "custom Oreo hardware" – I guess it's filled with cream, I don't know – a range of Xbox consoles, and Game Pass subscriptions. 

"Oreo Xbox Special Edition cookies will be available from January 2023 at locations in participating countries, available whilst stocks last," a post on the Xbox blog explains. And yeah, you'd better believe these cookies and redemption codes are going to be scalped faster than you can scrape the cream off an Oreo cookie. 

More seriously, rumors indicate Xbox has a new-fangled Developer Direct showcase planned for this month. The unannounced show will reportedly feature known games like Redfall and the next Forza, but it could be the start of more regular announcements and updates from Xbox, which has a lot to prove going into 2023 – and has indeed promised to pick up the pace.  

Plenty of the bigguns on our updated new games 2023 list are indeed coming to Xbox, though the platform is still facing a dearth of first-party hits.