What does Xbox have up its sleeve?
Xbox can’t possibly have as big of an E3 as it did in 2017. Last year, Project Scorpio (remember, the Xbox One X wasn’t even named yet) was the most anticipated news item out of all three console platform-holders’ line-ups. Hardware has that effect.
This year, it’s not likely that Xbox will have anything new as far as hardware goes, so its software will need to carry the show. It seems as if Microsoft will lean heavily on its established properties, as it has for the several past years. There are credible-seeming rumors that we’ll get proper reveals for Halo 6 and Forza Horizon 4.
However, it’s Gears of War that’s most interesting. There are reports that Microsoft might reveal three Gears of War titles. Three! The obvious one is Gears of War 5. The others are said to be a real-time strategy game a la Halo Wars and some sort of battle royale experience.
The big three properties are all well and good, but can we expect more first-party stuff? Now that Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 have released, Crackdown 3 and the new Ori title are the only Microsoft Studios games we know about. It seems like it’s time we hear more on that front. And, if not, Xbox will probably look to lock down more console exclusives like it did with PUBG; that move certainly seems to have worked out fantastically.
Join us as we watch the future of Xbox take shape over the next two hours. It starts at 1pm Pacific, 30 minutes from when this post goes live. Let’s hear your reactions in the comments below.
(Also, here’s a link to the week’s press conference schedule so you always know which publisher is up next.)
