Xbox 25th anniversary brings a free badge, fan designs and a six-city FanFest tour
Xbox 25th anniversary celebrations moved into a new phase this week when Microsoft rolled out a free profile badge, community-made gamerpics and themes, and curated Game Pass collections that reach across the brand's history. The updates were detailed on August 3, roughly three months before the platform's official birthday on November 15, with the anniversary badge available now through the end of 2026 to anyone who signs in on console, PC, or the Xbox app.
The badge costs nothing beyond a login, and the same sign-in surfaces a design collection created outside Microsoft's own teams. Klobrille produced a dynamic background styled after the Xbox 360 Blades Dashboard that celebrates Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and Fable, while Ben Kenobi contributed three new gamerpics. Players who want their own work considered can post it on X with the #XBOX25 hashtag for a chance to be featured.
What the Xbox 25th anniversary includes
Beyond the profile cosmetics, Xbox is adding specially curated game collections to Game Pass that honor each era of the brand. Titles named so far include Fable Anniversary, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Fallout 4, and Psychonauts 2. The full contents have not been published, but the collections are framed as a tour through the platform's generations rather than a single best-of list.
The Xbox 25th anniversary program also moves into the real world with the FanFest tour, which opened on June 7 at the Xbox event in Los Angeles. Six further stops were confirmed this week across Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia.
FanFest Tour Stops
| City | Date (2026) |
|---|---|
| Cologne, Germany (Gamescom) | August 26 |
| Tokyo | September 17 |
| London | September 26 |
| Mexico City | October 17 |
| Sydney | October 17 |
| Toronto | November 6 |
The Cologne stop lines up with gamescom 2026, where Xbox is running live broadcasts from its booth on August 26 and 27 with interviews, gameplay reveals, and new trailers for fans who cannot attend in person. Xbox frames FanFest as an in-person gathering built on connection, local community, and a shared love of games, and a sweepstakes tied to the tour is running alongside it. Additional community events were also teased in the announcement, with details still to come.
Why this matters
A free badge that requires only a sign-in gives Xbox a low-friction way to pull players back to their profiles ahead of November 15, while the community designs put creator work directly inside the console UI. The six-city tour turns a milestone anniversary into face-to-face gatherings that reinforce the brand's community-first pitch, with Gamescom and the official birthday both landing within the next few months.
Photo by Aaron Douglas on Unsplash
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